Date:	Monday 13 October 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk X
Owner/operator:	6 ANS RAF
Registration:	RP387
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire
Destination airport:	RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Vickers Wellington Mk X RP387, 6 ANS (Air Navigation School): Written off 13/10/1952. The crew was completing a local training sortie at RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire. During the approach completed in IMC conditions, the pilot-in-command deactivated the automatic pilot system and decided to continue manually under VFR rules. In heavy rain falls, he did not realize that the aircraft was losing height when it crashed in a field short of runway threshold, and collided with a tree. Two crew members - Sergeant L Bahal and Pilot Officer C Cooke - were injured, while the third occupant was killed.

Crew fatality:
Pilot Officer Francis Patrick PURCELL, RAF = killed in service 13/10/1952

Causes: Wrong approach configuration on part of the crew.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.135 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.301
3. 6 ANS ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/3/1952 to 31/12/1953: National Archives (PRO Kew) AIR 29/2300/4 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7163213
4. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/nwcrashes1945-52.htm
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-619-wellington-x-raf-lichfield-1-killed

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
15-Mar-2017 22:38	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
19-Nov-2018 21:57	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
25-Mar-2021 23:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Mar-2021 10:27	Froome	Updated [Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
27-Mar-2021 17:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport]