Date:	Wednesday 5 March 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Prentice T Mk I
Owner/operator:	16 RFS RAF
Registration:	VS645
MSN:	PAC-287
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Foston Hall Woods, off Leathersley Lane, Scropton, Derbyshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Burnaston, Derbyshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Prentice T.Mk.1 VS645, 16 RFS (Reserve Flying School), RAF: Delivered September 1948. Written off (destroyed) 5/3/1952 when crashed at Foston Hall Woods, off Leathersley Lane, Scropton, in Derbyshire. Flight Lieutenant Church’s detail was to further familiarise his pupil - Cadet Pilot Barbara Gubbins - with the complexities of spinning, essentially an out-of-control evolution.

Contemporary rules demanded that practice spins should be entered at a minimum of 5,000 feet above ground level (AGL). The guidance read, ‘when you have come down to 3,000 feet, you must prepare to abandon …be sure… that you can be out of the aircraft by 1,000 feet’. It is intriguing to consider that she might well have been the first woman to be awarded RAF wings, a distinction to be gained just six months later by Pilot Officer Jean Lennox Bird.

“This was not to be the last spinning fatality, but certainly it helped raised awareness of this facet of flight safety, for shortly afterwards the rules would state unequivocally, ‘If spin recovery action has not been effective by 3,000 feet AGL, abandon the aircraft’.”

Crew of Prentice VS645
Flight Lieutenant Eric Church RAF (QFI Instructor Pilot,aged 31) - killed
Cadet Pilot Barbara Mary Gubbins, WRAF VR (Pupil Pilot Under Instruction, aged 20) - killed

The biography of Cadet Pilot Barabra Gubbins (see links #6, #7 & #8) gives further details into the circumstances of the fatal crash:

"Barbara was killed with her instructor, Flt Lt Eric Church, 31, on an RAF training flight. Their aircraft was a single-engine, two-seater Percival Prentice Mk1, number VS 645, of 16 Reserve Flying School Derby at RAF Burnaston. The pair were on a spinning training flight, practising to recover control of the aircraft from an emergency. Cadet Gubbins and Flt Lt Church took off at 11:40am. The aircraft crashed 17 minutes later, spinning down into a field near Foston Hall Woods, off Leathersley Lane, Scropton in Derbyshire, a mile east of Sudbury Station.

The Derby Telegraph reported that the tragedy was first spotted by two boys from Scropton Hall Approved School, now a women’s prison. They noticed the aircraft’s wing dipping and alerted a teacher.Farm workers who were baling hay came running from surrounding fields. They found Flt Lt Church in the cockpit and Barbara on the ground nearby—both were dead.

At the time of her death, Barbara resided in Pelham Crescent, The Park, Nottingham. Following cremation in Nottingham, Barbara’s ashes were brought home to Hedsor for her funeral. Hundreds of people attended Barbara’s funeral at Hedsor on Wednesday, March 12. Barbara’s ashes were buried in the graveyard of the simple yet beautiful St. Nicholas Hedsor Parish Church. Two RAF officers who had escorted the casket saluted her grave. Barbara was a month shy of her 21st birthday at her death".

The Derby Evening Telegraph reported that Squadron Leader Findlay told the inquest Flt Lt Church was a very experienced pilot, flying since 1939, and that Barbara had approximately 150 hours flying, and was, “very capable and had the makings of a competent pilot.”

Eyewitness Raymond Harris, 47, of Heath Way, Hatton, said he saw the aircraft spinning down “slightly nose first”.

He added that he saw a lot of training aircraft and thought this one slightly lower than normal.

Mr Harris saw the canopy panels fly off at about 400 feet and added that the aircraft was still spinning when it hit. He ran to the aircraft and pulled Flt Lt Church’s body clear. The inquest heard that the dual-control aircraft had no mechanical defect.

Verdict: Accidental death.

Later, the official RAF inquiry concluded the crash was caused by “a failure of the human element” as there was no mechanical failure and no evidence to explain why the aircraft was spinning below the authorised height.

The reported crash location of Foston and Scropton is a civil parish in the Dove valley in South Derbyshire, on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire borders. It includes the village of Scropton and hamlet of Foston.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.125 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 227
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1983)
4. Derby Evening Telegraph Wednesday March 5 1952
5. White Peak Air Crash Sites by Pat Cunningham, Amberley Books, ISBN 978-1-4456-0655-2
6. Pigtail Pilot: The brief life of aviator Barbara Gubbins by Bill Todd, 2016: http://www.billtodd.co.uk/other-books/pigtail-pilot/
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178937568/barbara-mary-gubbins
8. http://www.barbaragubbins.co.uk/the-crash/
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VS
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foston_and_Scropton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Feb-2021 03:09	Dr. John Smith	Added
28-Feb-2021 03:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Feb-2021 03:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
28-Feb-2021 10:39	Emil Robot	Updated [Operator, Operator]