Ed. Mount St. Mary's College, Sheffield m. Dec 1939 Phyllis Gladys [Creed, d. 1991], 1 son [Brian b. 1941] prev. RAF Flying Officer, 1929-34; Aircraft Inspector, Standard Motor Co, Coventry Address in 1941: 72, Dunchurch Rd, Rugby, Warwickshire Postings: 16FPP, 6FPP Michael had a rather eventful career with the ATA, being involved in six accidents; - 15 Apr 1942, the brakes of his Defiant failed and he ran off the runway; - 19 Mar 1943, the rear wheel strut of his Hurricane failed on landing; - 2 Dec 1943, his Hampden hit a concrete post while taxying (This was not his fault, as he had been given incorrect signals by the ground crew); - On the 1 Mar 1944, he had a very nasty accident indeed. He "encountered bad weather whilst flying through the Tyne gap, turned up a side valley into the hills, and then trying to get back out of this valley, encountered icing conditions which caused the aircraft to crash." He was held responsible for the crash, having persisted too far in bad weather. "Murtagh was forced through the roof and over a distance of 120 feet. He received head injuries and a broken leg, and when he regained consciousness he found that it was almost dark. He realised that he would have to spend the night on the mountain top, and would have to find some cover to protect himself from the bitter winds which swept the scene. He crawled to the fuselage of the aircraft, part of which had been separated from the wings and engines and which was in an inverted position, went through a small hole in the side, and seated himself on some engine covers. The cold was intense, and he resorted to his parachute which ... saved his life by affording him some measure of protection against the snow and wind. During the night, he was forced to eat snow to keep his mouth free of congealing blood which made breathing difficult." - Birmingham Mail He spent about 40 hours on the freezing hillside before being found. The rescue party discovered that he had a broken leg, a deep laceration of the forehead, generalised bruising, a fracture of the lower jaw, and extensive bruising of both legs below the knee. He was taken to hospital, amazingly still alive, and then made slow and steady progress until returning to flying duties (Class I only) on 26 Feb 1945 - almost a year later. Pretty soon, however, on the 25 April 1945, he had to make a forced landing in a Magister when the engine cut out, and then, finally, - on 7 Aug 1945, he once again encountered bad weather flying an Anson and turned on a reciprocal course, but this brought him over a valley surrounded by hills in cloud. Luckily this time he managed to force-land without damage in a small field. The ATA then seems to have decided he had taken quite enough punishment, and terminated his contract [admittedly at the sme time as lots of other pilots] on 30 Nov 1945. d. Jun 1948 - Conway, Caernarvonshire, Wales His wife applied for a pension. A report from the ATA Medical Officer A Buchanan Barbour said that, before his 1944 accident, "This pilot had been under the care of the Medical Service for hypertension and alcoholism. He was a man of considerable flying experience, and was regarded as a good pilot." "His terminal lung condition was, in my opinion, related to this flying accident."
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1928
ATA
