Date:	Tuesday 17 February 1953
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	6 FTS RAF
Registration:	KF713
MSN:	14A-2414
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Meir, near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B KF713 [MSN 14A-2414]. Direct purchase, so no former USAAF Serial. Recorded as being in service with 6 FTS, RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire, from June 1951

Written off (destroyed) 17 February 1953: when on a sortie from RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire, the pilot called ATC (Air Traffic Control) at Tern Hill several times, shortly after take off. He reported that he was entering low cloud, and then breaking out of the cloud. Approxmately thirty minutes after take off, the Harvard was seen to be diving, with parts falling away from the airframe, before diving vertically into the ground at Meir, near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire from an approximate altitude of 500 feet. The pilot (flying solo) was killed

Crew of Harvard KF713
Pilot Officer Keith CLOWES (pilot) RAF- killed in service 17/2/1953

The reported crash location of Meir is a suburb in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire situated between Lightwood and Longton. It is possible that the pilot of Harvard KF713 was trying to make an emergency landing at Meir Aerodrome (which was active at the time, but closed in August 1973)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.141 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 341
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988 p 133)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir,_Staffordshire#Meir_Aerodrome

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Apr-2021 17:21	Dr. John Smith	Added
14-Apr-2021 19:38	Heil	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]