Date:	Saturday 17 September 1949
Time:	day
Type:	North American Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	3 FTS RAF
Registration:	FS735
MSN:	14A-875
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Wistow, 1mile SW of RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF Upwood, Huntingdonshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
North American Harvard T.2B FS735 ("FTB-L") 3 FTS, RAF (ex-USAAF 43-12576): Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FS735. No 3 Flying Training School, Feltwell, Norfolk March 1946.

Written off (destroyed) 17-9-49 when spun into the ground during aerobatics near Wistow, 1-mile South West of RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire.

The pilot was practicing for a "Battle of Britain" air display. The Harvard dived across the airfield, climbed, rolled steeply to port, and then went into an unrecoverable spin before diving into the ground. The aircraft was destroyed by fire, as it burst into flames on impact with the ground.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry deemed that the pilot had ignored his written pre-flight briefing in regard to the minimum safe altitude for aerobatics. This meant that he had insufficient height to recover from the spin that the aircraft had got into. Both crew on board were killed
Crew of Harvard FS735:
P.I (1115803) Frank HARTLEY (pilot) RAF - killed on active service 17-9-49
Sig.II (1890478) Dennis Terrance HOOPER (pass.) RAF- killed on active service 17-9-49

Wistow is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Wistow lies approximately 6 miles north-east of Huntingdon, near Warboys. Wistow is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England

1. Broken Wings Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. James J. Halley. Published by Air-Britain, 1999 p 93
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946-1949 by Colin Cummings (p 533)
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamblin, Air Britain, 1988) p 90
4. https://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
5. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Huntingdonshire/Bury.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._3_Flying_Training_School_RAF#Second_formation
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Upwood#Cold_War_era
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wistow,_Cambridgeshire

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Jan-2015 16:18	TB	Added
18-Oct-2019 15:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
28-Oct-2019 08:54	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]