Pilot Officer Hukum Chand Mehta was one of the twenty four Indians sent to the United Kindom in1940. The Indians arrived on October 8, 1940, at the height of Battle of Britain, but by the time their training was completed, it would be April 1941.   HC Mehta would be one of the six pilots who went to Fighter command. He joined 43 Squadron.

After more than six months of training , Mehta died when his Hurricane IIB (Z3150)  flew into the ground at Kiedler in Northumberland,  during a formation practice on 3 November 1941.

Jim Corbett of the Air Crash Investigation and Archaeology (ACIA) spent many years researching air crashes in North East England. He was part of the North East England Air Crash Research (NEEACR ) group which became one of the founding members of ACIA. Jim discovered the crash site of Hurricane Z3150 and is planning to write a book on Aviation Archaeology and his site trips.

Jim's page on HC Mehta's crash site can be seen on the ACIA website.

According to Jim, nearly all of Z3150 remains at the site (in bits) and it is one of the largest high ground Hurricane sites in the United Kingdom. 

Jim adds that the UK Ministry of Defence does not allow any removal of items without permission. It considers the site to be a war grave as human remains can still be around.

As part of his research Jim has sent a photograph of the crash site as well as scans of HC Mehta's Death Certificate and the Accident Card of Hurricane Z3150. These are featured on this page.

All Images are copyright of www.acia.co.uk