Showell, Denis William Paul Groves (Leading Aircraftman)

The Northrop A-17, a development of the Northrop Gamma 2F model, was a two-seat, single-engine, monoplane, attack bomber built in 1935 by the Northrop Corporation for the U.S. Army Air Corps. When in British Commonwealth service during World War II, the A-17 was called Nomad.

The Royal Canadian Air Force received 32 Nomads that had been part of a French order of 93 aircraft. When France fell in 1940, this order was taken over by Great Britain who transferred 32 of the aircraft to Canada where they were used as advanced trainers and target tugs as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. All were assigned to No. 3 Training Command RCAF.

Nomads were never used operationally overseas. Initially, the aircraft were used at Camp Borden to check out qualified civilian pilots who were offering their services to the air force. In 1941, the aircraft were modified to a target-towing configuration to allow for air-to-air gunnery training at various schools in Quebec and Ontario. In addition to being used by the RCAF in Canada, the Royal Norwegian Air Force trained some aircrew in exile on the A-17A at airports in Toronto and Muskoka. The RCAF Nomads were retired with the cessation of hostilities. The Nomads were not particularly outstanding aircraft, but they did provide reliable training service logging an average of approximately 3,000 flying hours each in their four and a half years of service. Wikipedia and Harold Skaarup web page

Wikipedia Nomad Trainer

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Northrop Nomad - Kestrel Publications

Aircraft Images

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Nomad (Northrop) 3494

Nomad (Northrop) 3494

Delivered marked as NX-N2. Transferred for overhaul at Canadian Vickers Ltd in Montreal, Quebec, as of 21 May 1941. Assigned to No. 6 Bombing & Gunnery School at Mountain View, Ontario, as of 18 Oct 1941 after being converted to target towing configuration. Suffered a wheels-up landing on 2 Feb 1942. Category "A" accident on 13 Jun 1942 and crashed in Bay of Quinte, Ontario just off RCAF Station Trenton. #3494 took off from Trenton on a gun camera exercise at 15:00 hrs with Nomad #3505. Both a/c were to engage in mock combat with each other. Both a/c turned towards the Bay of Quinte after take-off and climbed up to 700-800 ft. The pilot of #3505 noticed the undercarriage of #3494 was still down and radioed to that effect. After retracting the u/c, #3494 then executed a vertical bank to port and commenced a 180â—‹ turn. Then the a/c appeared to first stall followed by a slow spin that accelerated. The a/c crashed into the bay after 3 complete spins and was destroyed. The crew, Pilot Officer J.A. McGregor (pilot) and LAC's D.W. Showell and J.R.D. Young (student pilots), were all killed.

1940-08-13 Taken on Strength at Uplands, Ontario 2022-01-26
1942-June-13 Accident: RCAF STN Loc: Bay Of Quinte Names: Mcgregor | Showell | Young
1942-06-13 Accident Category A 2022-01-26
1942-08-04 Struck off Strength written off 2022-01-26