Date:	Saturday 24 September 1955
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10
Owner/operator:	HCCS RAF
Registration:	WZ848
MSN:	C1/0867
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF White Waltham, Berkshire (EGLM)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 WZ848: Delivered 8/4/53. RAF service career was with the HCCS (Home Command Communications Squadron), RAF only.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 24/9/55: The pilot, an Air Commodore, took off in foggy conditions, from RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire, despite being advised to wait until the weather had cleared. The aircraft's canopy misted over during the take off run, and the pilot, flying "blind" due to the misted up canopy, drifted the aircraft to the right of the runway shortly after take off, and flew into a wireless mast. The aircraft then had to make an immediate forced landing due to the damage sustained.

It was also discovered that, during the take off run, the pilot's foot had became jammed in the cockpit behind some stowed luggage, and this left him unable to operate the rudder bar properly, and thus correct the drift to the right.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.174 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 110)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.157
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WZ
5. https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/WZ848.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-May-2020 14:02	Dr. John Smith	Added
29-May-2020 15:27	MIG29	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]