Date:	Tuesday 17 June 1930
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	29 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K1209
MSN:	1521
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF North Weald, North Weald Basset, Epping Forest, Essex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Weald, North Weald Basset, Epping Forest, Essex
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
c/no 1521: DH.60M [Gipsy I] taken on charge as K1209 by 29 Squadron, RAF North Weald (Fighting Area) 19.5.30. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 17.6.30 when crashed on take-off from RAF North Weald, North Weald Basset, Epping Forest, Essex. The Moth crashed into the awning or cab of a steam roller on take-off North Weald 17.6.30 and was destroyed by fire. The pilot - Wing Commander Berard Edward Smythies DFC, Officer Commanding RAF North Weald, was killed, the passenger only slightly injured. According to the following published source (see link #5)

"Wing Commander B.E. Smythies, DFC, the Station Commander of RAF North Weald died in Epping Cottage Hospital of multiple burns sustained when de Havilland DH60M Moth K1209 crashed on this date. The aircraft was one of thirty Moth light aircraft delivered to the RAF in April and May 1930, this particular machine being on issue to 29 Squadron as an addition to its Siskin IIIA fighter aircraft".

The passenger, Service Number 561152 AC.1 (Aircraftman 1st Class) Frederick Reginald Stanley Holben was only slightly injured. The RAF Board of Inquiry attributed the accident to "Inattention on the part of the pilot".

From 'First Above the Clouds' by F. Warren Merriam: -
"Smythies' accident would have been considered ridiculous if it had not ended fatally. He ran into a grass roller which was obscured from his vision." (Merriam was his instructor in 1914).

NOTE: Some sources state that the aircraft was an Armstrong Whitworth Siskin - probably due to the fact that it was 29 Squadron aircraft, and they were equipped with the AW Siskin at the time. 'Flight' for 27 June 1930 (page 724) mis-identified Moth K1209 as an Armstrong Whitworth Siskin, thus:

"On Tuesday, June 17, Wing-Comdr. B. E. Smythies, D.F.C., p.s.a., O.C. Station H.Q., North Weald, was taking off in a two-seater Siskin [sic] with A.C.1 F. R.S. Holben as passenger, when his machine hit a lawn roller, crashed, and caught fire. Holben was slightly injured, but the wing-commander died in hospital. The late officer entered the Royal Engineers in 1905 and joined the R.F.C. in 1915. He served in France as squadron commander, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his services. He subsequently served at the Air Ministry, went through the Staff College at Andover, and later commanded the No.99 Bomber Squadron. In 1926 he won the R.M. Groves Memorial Essay prize. Last August he was given command of Upper Heyford, where Nos.29 and 56 Fighter Squadrons are stationed. Both these squadrons, together with No.111 (Fighter) Squadron, are to form a Fighter wing at the Hendon Display."

1. The K File; The Royal Air Force of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain 2004 p280)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976)
3. RAF North Weald ORB for the period 1.9.1927 to 31.12.1945: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 28/603: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4098608
4. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
5. http://www.brynelliott.co.uk/WESTESSEXcrashesMishaps2Peacetime.pdf
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17427-RAF-Fatalities-1930
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/04892.php
8. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15294
9. http://www.worldnavalships.com/directory/aircrewprofile.php?AircrewID=11694
10. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=49824
11. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
12. https://thekingscandlesticks.com/webs/pedigrees/22382.html
13. https://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15294
14. https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/267801-what-became-of-major-be-smythies/
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Weald_Airfield#History

Wing Commander B E Smythies DFC © Mark Newton 21.06.2015 (WMR-25904) Memorial plaque for Wing Commander B E Smythes DFC at St Edmund's Parish Church, Church Street, Dolton Torridge Devon [photograph dated 21.6.2015]

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Sep-2017 15:11	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Apr-2018 15:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
08-Oct-2018 18:15	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
28-Dec-2023 16:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]