Date:	Friday 16 January 1953
Time:	12:45
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	22 FTS RAF
Registration:	FT401
MSN:	14A-1441
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Little Knock, Broadlaw Hills, near Tweedsmuir, Peebles -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	HMS Nuthatch, RNAS Anthorn, Cumberland
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Noorduyn AT-16-ND Harvard ex-USAAF 43-13142 (MSN 14A-1441) Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FT401. To No 17 Service Flying Training School, Wellingore, Lincolnshire September 1944. To Central Flying School, Little Rissington, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire November 1946. To No 21 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit December 1946. To No 1 (Pilot) Refresher Flying Unit, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire September 1947. To No 2 Flying Training School October 1948 coded "FAK-J". To No 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire January 1950 coded "FDA-P". To No 3 Flying Training School, Feltwell, Norfolk March 1950. To No 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire March 1950. To No 2 Flying Training School September 1950. To 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire November 1950 coded "R-L"

Written off (destroyed) 16 January 1953: Crashed on Little Knock, Broadlaw Hills, near Tweedsmuir, Peebles, Scotland. The aircraft was from No 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire at Syerston near Newark but was being used by a detachment at HMS Nuthatch, RNAS Anthorn, Cumberland. The pilot - Midshipman Wadham - a trainee Royal Navy pilot stationed at RNAS Anthorn in Cumbria (although assigned to HMS Fulmar at RNAS Lossiemouth), was briefed to fly an aerobatics practice flight followed by QGH controlled descent practice. He took off at 12:03 and made contact with the air traffic controller at Anthorn to notify him he was airborne. After this there was no further contact from Midshipman Wadham, despite an order requiring contact every 20 minutes.

The aircraft was next seen at 12:40 by a shepherd as it over flew Tweedsmuir at a height he estimated to be 50 to 100 feet before turning south along one of the valleys just to the east of the village. Shortly after he heard a bang and immediately assumed that it had crashed.

Two hours later the crash site was located by another shepherd close to the summit of Little Knock, an outlier of Broad Law. The accident report concluded that the aircraft had struck while in a steep climb on the opposite side of the ridge it struck. The aircraft ‘bounced’ over the summit before its port wing dug in and caused the wreck to cart-wheel and come to rest inverted.

Another fact that was determined by the Board of Inquiry was that a friend of the pilot lived in a house very close to the point where he turned south up the valley. It states “from the accounts of eye witnesses and examination of the wreckage it would appear that the pilot was “beating up” his friends house against orders and that when endeavouring to climb away up a small narrow blind valley the aircraft was unable to obtain sufficient height to clear the hill tops which were in cloud and flew into the hills”. As noted above, the pilot was killed

Crew of Harvard FT401:
Midshipman Nicholas Charles Wadham (pilot, on assignment from HMS Fulmar, RNAS Lossiemouth) RN - killed in service 16/1/1953

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.140 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 332
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988 p 102)
4. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/north-american-harvard-ft401-little-knock/
5. http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/BroadlawII.html
6. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
7. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1953.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Apr-2021 01:14	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Apr-2021 10:09	Sicak	Updated [Time, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
10-Apr-2021 22:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]