Plane was a Boulton Paul Defiant Mk 11 V1116 which took off from Squires Gate Airfield to practice low flying attacks on British coastal defences. The plane crashed into the sea off Lytham after its wingtip hit Lytham Pier during a simulated attack on a coastal battery. The pilot William John Paterson Olney was never found,the body of air gunner Sgt Stanley Wheatley Greenwood was recovered.