Date:	Tuesday 8 August 1950
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	24 RFS RAF
Registration:	DE685
MSN:	85626
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	St. Mary's Hoo, Hoo Peninsula, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Rochester Airport, Rochester, Kent (RCS/EGTO)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth 85626; Taken on charge by the RAF as DE685 at 29 MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 8.5.42. To 16 EFTS, RAF Burnaston, Derbyshire 23.6.42. Crashed 9.9.43 [presumed at Burnaston]; to Taylorcraft at Rearsby, Leicestershire for repairs 14.9.43. Upon completions of repairs, to 20 MU, RAF Aston Down, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire 31.10.43. To 22 EFTS, RAF Teversham, Cambridge 24.11.44. To 24 EFTS, RAF Sealand, Flintshire 2.1.45; to Rochester 3.46 with unit. To 24 RFS, RAF Rochester, Kent 26.6.47, coded “RCV-G” later "RCV-T".

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 8.8.50 when crashed at St. Mary's Hoo, Hoo Peninsula, Kent. The pilot - Pilot II K W S Hammond - was carrying out a practice forced landing, but allowed the aircraft to get too low. He then opened the throttle very quickly, to try and regain altitude, but the engine was slow to respond. Still at a very low altitude, the Tiger Moth then flew into trees, overturned, and was heavily damaged.

As reported in a contemporary local newspaper ("Kent Messenger" - Friday 11 August 1950)

PLANE CRASH AT HOO
Pilot escaped serious injury
A TRAINER Tiger Moth plane, piloted by Kenneth Hammond, 25, of the Flying Training School, Rochester, struck a tree and crashed into a field at St. Mary Hoo on Tuesday afternoon. The plane was completely wrecked. The front portion was burled into the ground up to the first cockpit. Fortunately, the pilot was in the second cockpit. He was taken to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Rochester, with slight injuries, but was later allowed to go home.

Wreckage recovered to 49 MU RAF Faygate, Horsham, West Sussex and struck off charge as scrap 15.8.50. The reported crash location of St Mary Hoo is a village and civil parish in Kent, England. It is on the Hoo Peninsula in the borough of Medway., at approximate coordinates 51°27′32.4″N, 0°36′0″E

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.105 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1987 p.16)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.73
4. Kent Messenger - Friday 11 August 1950
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p856.html
6. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_Hoo

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Dec-2020 00:41	Dr. John Smith	Added
28-Dec-2020 00:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Dec-2020 10:45	TB	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
29-Sep-2021 19:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
29-Sep-2021 19:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
29-Sep-2021 19:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
30-Sep-2021 11:18	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]