Date:	Thursday 1 July 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Prentice T Mk I
Owner/operator:	3 FTS RAF
Registration:	VS258
MSN:	5800/18
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hilgay Fen, 4 miles from Downham Market, Norfolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Prentice T.Mk.1 VS258: Notified as awaiting collection 28/6/1948, Delivered 29/06/1948. Operational RAF service was with 3 FTS RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk

Written off (destroyed) 5/7/1954 during a practice forced landing at Hilgay Fen, 4 miles from Downham Market, Norfolk, the aircraft stalled in a turn and crashed. The pilot - Cadet Pilot Richard Trevor Gipson (Service Number 4138668, aged 19) - was killed.

In an ironic twist, Cadet Pilot R.T. Gipson was promoted to the rank of Pilot Officer effective from 20/7/54 - three weeks AFTER his death (although it was retrospective to 20/1/54 - see link #6). Hence the rank of "Pilot Officer" was inscribed on his tombstone at St. Nicholas Churchyard, Feltwell, Norfolk

The crash location of Hilgay Fen is a civil parish in Norfolk, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) from Downham Market.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.160 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.78)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.70
4. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photolists/%40MAR_11_18.pdf
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VS
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40234/supplement/4244/data.pdf
7. Pilots Gravestone: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96555212@N08/44233085200/
8. https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=81259&start=25
9. https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/hilgay-fen-kings-lynn-and-west-norfolk-pe380jz

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Apr-2020 00:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
15-Apr-2020 10:31	Investig	Updated [Operator, Operator]