Date:	Friday 11 December 1953
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	CFS RAF
Registration:	KF584
MSN:	14A-2285
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Stanley Pontlage, 3 miles NNW of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B KF513 [MSN 14A-2285]: Direct purchase, so no former USAAF Serial. First recorded in service with 7 FTS RAF Westwood, Peterborough in August 1945. To 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron RAF Abbotsinch, Glasgow, August 1946 coded "RAI-X" later "LO-X". To 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron RAF Ringway, Manchester July 1951 until withdrawn from use in September 1951. After overhaul and storage, next issued to the CFS (Central Flying School), RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire in July 1952

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 11 December 1952: The aircraft took off from RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire with a crew of two, for a sortie consisting of practice aerobatics and controlled let downs. After completing the aerobatics part of the sorite, at an altitude of 4,200 feet and a speed of 150 knots, the oil pressure droppped, causing engine failure.

As the aircraft descended to earth with the engine failing, the crew selected a field to make a forced landing, near Stanley Pontlage, three miles north north-west of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. However, during the descent to the selected field for the forced landing, the crew of two were forced to change direction at the last minute, when it became clear that they flying towards overhead HT Power lines.

Touchdown was therefore made into a completely different (and smaller) field to the one orginally selected, the Harvard having flown underneath some overhead HT power cables en route. The Harvard then ran across the field it landed in, struck a cow, went through a hedge and came to rest in another, adjacent, field. The RAF Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the accident to engine failure, which, in turn, was caused by the seizure of the aircraft engine oil pump. Despite being written off (deemed "damaged beyond economic repair") the two crew walked away from the crash uninjured.

Crew of Harvard KF584:
Flight Lieutenant (195076) P. J. B. TUCKER (QFI Instructor Pilot) RAF - survived, uninjured
Pilot Officer G C Taylor RAF (Pupil Pilot Under Instruction) RAF - survived, uninjured

The reported crash location of Stanley Pontlarge is a hamlet in Gloucestershire, within the civil parish of Prescott and the ecclesiastical parish of Winchcombe. Stanley Pontlarge lies on the steep northern escarpment of the Cotswolds at approximate co ordinates 51.971°N 2.006°W

NOTE: There is an airworthy Harvard which has appeared at Air Shows since 1998 in the markings of "KF584", and the 602 (City of Glasgow) code "RAI-X". This is, of course, not the "original" KF584, but another Harvard, (MSN CCF4-409) whose history is as follows:

1951: Constructed as a Harvard Mk.4 by Canadian Car and Foundry at Fort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada.
1952: Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Air Force with s/n 51-17227.
1953: Taken on Strength/Charge with the Aeronautica Militare Italiana with s/n MM53846.
March 1981: Withdrawn from Aeronautica Militare Italiana use. In storage at Livorno AB: stored, offered for sale.
22 April 1981: To Robs Lamplough, Duxford and registered G-BIWX.
22 March 1983: To Guy Black/Aero Vintage Ltd.
30 June 1983: To Anthony E. Hutton, White Waltham. RAF markings added as "FT239"
19 March 1996: To Douglas R. G. Baillie, Glasgow-Cumbernauld.
16 February 1998: To Douglas R. G. Baillie, Helensburgh re-regsitered as G-RAIX, with 602 (City of Glasgow) markings Applied as "KF584" with Code "RAI-X"
14 October 1999: To Malcolm R. Paul (and) Philip A. Shaw, North Weald, Essex 19 July 2003
3 December 2004: To Malcolm R. Paul, Lee-On-Solent, Hampshire.
3 April 2018: registration G-RAIX cancelled on export to Poland. Re-registered as SP-YIX to Jacek Grezgorz Mainka, Mrokow. Poland (see links #10, 11 & 12)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.152 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988, p.126)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.423
4. RAF Little Rissington: The Central Flying School, 1946–76 By Roy Bagshaw, Alan Pollock, Malcolm Thomas, Ray Deacon
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._602_Squadron_RAF#Post-war
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._613_Squadron_RAF#Postwar_operations
8. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Pontlarge
10. https://www.t6harvard.com/uk-harvards/g-raix/
11. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1951.html
12. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-BIWX.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-May-2021 22:02	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-May-2021 22:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-May-2021 10:30	Puck	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]
25-May-2021 14:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-May-2021 14:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]