Date:	Friday 3 August 1956
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	HMS Heron /RNAS Yeovilton SF FAA RN
Registration:	X7397
MSN:	6557
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RNAS Yeovilton /HMS Heron, Ilchester, Somerset, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Taxi
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), Ilchester, Somerset (EGDY)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
C/no. 6557: Taken on charge as X7397 under Contract No B.104592/40 at 9 MU RAF Cosford 25.8.41. (2 x Gipsy Queen III engines #70125/70126) To HQ Air Transport Auxiliary, White Waltham 18.11.41. To De Havilland Witney for repairs 25.8.43; to 18 MU RAF Dumfries 1.12.43.

Transferred to the Royal Navy 13.4.45. To 782 Squadron, RNAS Donibristle 25.4.45. To RNAS Stretton 30.4.46 for storage. To De Havilland, Witney 25.9.46 for maintenance; returned to RNAS Stretton 14.3.47. Possibly used by the Test Flight at Stretton. Transferred to Ferry Flight, RNAS Stretton 20.1.48; coded ‘901/JA’. To RNAS Stretton Station Flight by 6.49. To De Havilland, Leavesden 19.7.49 for repairs; ferried to HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath 12.5.50 (still present in 1.53).

To RNAS Lossiemouth 24.3.53. To School of Land/Air Warfare (RN Air Unit), Old Sarum 6.11.53. To RNAS Yeovilton 7.54 (probably nominal change only, as HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, was the parent unit for the RNAS Air Unit at Old Sarum). Delivered to RNAS Yeovilton 14.4.56; coded ‘421/VL’; later coded ‘921/VL’.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) when nosed over after the brakes failed when taxiing at RNAS Yeovilton 3.8.56. All seven persons on board (Pilot - Lieutenant Commander S J Hall and six Sea Cadet passengers on an "air experience flight") were unhurt. Struck off charge 13.9.56, as Cat.ZZ(c) and reduced to spares and produce at Yeovilton

1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant et al, Air Britain, 2004 p.97)
2. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
3. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p065.html
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=X7397

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Mar-2019 18:58	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Mar-2019 19:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
05-Feb-2020 22:40	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
24-Jun-2020 18:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Jun-2021 21:02	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]