Date:	Wednesday 11 February 1942
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	6 FIS RAF
Registration:	T7850
MSN:	84219
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Pardward Mansion, Shurdington Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Filton, Bristol, Gloucestershire (FZO/EGTG)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 84219; Taken on charge as T7850, nominally at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 5.2.41. However, placed into long-term storage in ‘purgatory’ at Archer Cowley Ltd, Park End Street, Oxford; returned to Morris Motors at Cowley, Oxford for erection 18.7.41. To 2 EFTS RAF Staverton, Gloucestershire 29.7.41. To 6 FIS (Flying Instructors School), RAF Filton, Bristol, Gloucestershire [by 31.12.41].

Written off (destroyed) when collided with Miles Master N7766 of 9 SFTS and crashed at Pardward Mansion, near Shurdington Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 11.2.42; all four crew killed - two in the Tiger Moth, and two in the Miles Master:

Crew of Tiger Moth T7850:
Flying Officer Godfrey George William PLEDGER RAF VR (Service Number 88652, Pilot Under Training) - killed on active service 11.2.42
Pilot Officer Stanley Charles JONES RNZAF (Service Number 413085, Instructor Pilot) - killed in active service 11.2.42

Crew of Miles Master N7766:
Pilot Officer Frederick William Buckland RAF (Service Number 67054) - killed in active service 11.2.42
Sergeant Anthony Joseph Maher RCAF (Service Number R/55815,aged 24) - killed on active service 11.2.42.

The collision was witnessed by John Dance, then a member of 537 (Cheltenham Grammar School) Squadron, Air Training Corps, who watched as the Master dived towards the Tiger Moth, in what he thinks was a mock attack which went horribly wrong. Tiger Moth T7850 was Struck off charge 27.2.42 as FACE (Flying Accident Cat.E).

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft T1000-V9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1997 p.65)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR81/12071: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17082821
3. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2932517/godfrey-george-william-pledger/
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2451282/stanley-charles-jones/
5. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2763489/frederick-william-buckland/
6. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2451293/anthony-joseph-maher/
7. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p842.html
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=T7850
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?5655-11-Feb-1942&p=32168#post32168
11. http://aircrewremembered.com/jones-stanley-charles.html
12. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
13. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/canadaairwar/canadaairwar1942.pdf
14. https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/stanley-charles-jones
15. https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/fallen-aviators/rcaf-casualties-second-world-war/macwilliam-to-mcbeath/
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheltenham#Neighbourhoods

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Mar-2022 00:38	Dr. John Smith	Added
23-Mar-2022 22:43	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]