Date:	Tuesday 31 October 1944
Time:	14:40 LT
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	29 EFTS RAF
Registration:	N9408
MSN:	82478
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Manor Farm, Wedhampton, near Devizes, Wiltshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Clyffe Pypard, near Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire
Destination airport:	RAF Clyffe Pypard, near Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 82478 (Gipsy Major #82522); Taken on charge as N9408 at 19 MU RAF St Athan, South Glamorgan 15.11.39. To DeHavilland for repairs 19.7.40; to 5 MU RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire 24.8.40 after reapris completed. To 7 EFTS RAF Desford, Leciestershire 21.9.40. Crashed 11.7.41 at Desford, Leicestershire; to Taylorcraft at Rearsby, Leicestershire for repairs 17.7.41. To 29 EFTS RAF Clyffe Pypard, near Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire 18.9.41 after repairs completed.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) when collided with Percival Proctor Mk.III LZ629 of 2 Radio School, RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire, and crashed in a pond at Manor Farm, Wedhampton, near Devizes, Wiltshire at 14.40 hrs on 31.10.44; all four crew killed - two in the Tiger Moth and two in the Proctor. According to the entry in the 29 EFTS Operations Record Book (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540):

"By the end of the month" [of October 1944], "low cloud and fog added to the picture prevented a great deal of flight training. The mood plunged still further at 14:40 hrs on 31st October when Tiger Moth N9408 collided with a Proctor III (LZ629) from nearby RAF Yatesbury. Both aircraft crashed into fields belonging to Manor Farm at Wedhampton. The Proctor (crewed by Flt Sgt Allen Frederick Hampshire and Sgt Septimus Mark Best) came down near the railway line to the north of the Bell Inn, close by Sunnyside Farm, and the Tiger Moth, with instructor FS John Reginald Dunford and pupil Naval Airman, 2nd Class Kevin Davies aboard, fell into a pond between the railway line and the Bell Inn. All four airmen were killed. Flight Sergeant Dunford had been one of the new influx of instructors which had arrived on 9th October and Naval Airman 2nd Class Davies was a student with No.1 Naval Grading Course".

Crew of Tiger Moth N6408:
Flight Sergeant John Reginald DUNFORD (Service Number 1388781, Instructor Pilot) RAF VR - killed in active sxervice 31.01.44
Naval Airman 2nd Class Kevin DAVIES (Service Number FAA/FX 705234, Pilot Under Training, on attachment from HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire) - killed in active service 31.10.44

Crew of Proctor LZ629:
Flight Sergeant Allen Frederick HAMPSHIRE (Service Number 427446, PIlot) RNZAF - killed in active service 31.10.44
Sergeant Septimus Mark BEST (Service Number 1595801) RAF VR - killed in active service 31.10.44

Tiger Moth N6408 sent to 50 MU RAF Cowley, Oxford 20.11.44. Struck off charge 30.11.44 as FACE (Flying Accident Cat.E)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p.55)
2. 29 EFTS Operations Record Book (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period September 1941 to October 1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/622/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160953
3. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2435879/john-reginald-dunford/
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2698480/kevin-davies/
5. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2691616/allan-frederick-hampshire/
6. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2810113/septimus-mark-best/
7. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p824.html
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=N9408
10. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1944-10OCT.htm
11. https://dunxc2.wixsite.com/pypard/1944
12. https://dunxc2.wixsite.com/pypard/aircraft-listing
13. https://www.aircrewremembered.com/hampshire-allan-frederick.html
14. http://www.rafweb.org/Members%20Pages/Casualties/1940s/1944/Casualties_1944_10-11.htm
15. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2577379

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Apr-2022 00:47	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Apr-2022 00:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Category]
05-Apr-2022 10:14	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]