Date:	Thursday 11 March 1954
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Ballykelly SF RAF
Registration:	DE574
MSN:	85541
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	3 miles from RAF Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland (EGQB)
Destination airport:	RAF Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland (EGQB)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 85541; Taken on charge as DE574 at 5 MU RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire 27.3.42. To 332 Squadron, RAF North Weald, Essex 1.10.42; to Bognor Regis, Sussex 3.44. To 39 MU RAF Colerne, Wiltshire 10.5.44. To RAF RAF Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland 29.6.49

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 11.3.54: Wrecked in a forced landing due to engine failure 3 miles from RAF Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Aircraft stalled and collided with overhead power cables during the forced landing on approach to Ballykelly. No casualties or fatalities reported. According to the following published source (see link #5):

"Ballykelly also had on strength a Station Flight Anson, TX167, used for communication work between bases. Two other types were also present; an Airspeed Oxford, N4775, which was restored to airworthy condition after being discovered derelict when the station re-opened, and a Tiger Moth, DE574. The Oxford only lasted a short time before it was pushed back into a hangar and quietly forgotten about. The Tiger Moth was somewhat different and was in great demand, be it as the CO's personal mount or something to jump into and go up to Portrush Golf Club and buzz some colleagues! It unfortunately came to a sticky end when, on one occasion, the engine stalled on final approach, the aircraft landing in a tree and becoming rather bent."

Wreckage recovered to RAF Ballykelly, where Struck Of Charge as Cat.5(s)(FA) on 23.6.54

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.155 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1987 p 15)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.42
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p855.html
5. https://www.thegrowler.org.uk/avroshackleton/ballykelly.htm
6. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ballykelly#Post-war

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Apr-2020 19:50	Dr. John Smith	Added
07-Apr-2020 09:37	INV	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
07-Apr-2020 09:40	INV	Updated [Destination airport, Operator]
11-Oct-2021 21:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
13-Oct-2021 09:31	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]