Date:	Monday 25 March 1957
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T Mk 11
Owner/operator:	RAF College Cranwell
Registration:	XE978
MSN:	15564
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1/2 mile NNE of RAF Bardney (disused), Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire (EGYD)
Destination airport:	RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire (EGYD)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.Mk 11 XE978: Delivered 6/6/1955. Sole RAF service career was with the RAF College, Cranwell, coded "41"

Written off (destroyed) 25/3/1957: The crew abandoned the aircraft over Bardney, Lincolnshire after control failure during a high speed run. Both crew ejected safely and landed by parachute. The aircraft came down to earth half-a-mile north north east of the disused RAF Bardney.

RAF Bardney is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.7 miles (2.7 km) north of Bardney, Lincolnshire, England and 10.2 miles (16.4 km) east of the County town of Lincoln. It was built as a satellite to RAF Waddington in 1943 and the airfield closed in 1963.

Crew of Vampire XE978:
Flight Lieutenant G.N.Lewis RAF (pilot)
Flight Cadet R.L.Thomas (passenger)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.188 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 26)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.239
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH115%20prodn%20list.txt
6. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh115.pdf
7. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1957
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bardney

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
30-Jul-2020 22:06	Dr. John Smith	Added