Date:	Monday 29 August 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Taylorcraft Auster APO Mk 6
Owner/operator:	657 Sqn /1901 Flt RAF
Registration:	VF601
MSN:	2542
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Churchill Gunnery Ranges, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Destination airport:	Churchill Gunnery Ranges, Wiltshire

Narrative:
Auster VF601 (657 Squadron /1901 Flight RAF): Written off (damaged beyond repair) 29/08/1949 when crashed onto the Churchill Gunnery Tanges on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

The pilot was giving a display of the Auster's capabilities to a crowed on the Gunnery Range area. The aircraft then climbed to 500 feet, and, at the top of the climb, the pilot turned the Auster through 180 degrees, but it then stalled during the turn and went into an unrecoverable spin into the ground.
Crew:
Captain (378696) Donald Edwin Roberts (pilot) Royal Army - killed on active service 29-8-1949.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.526
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VF
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._657_Squadron_RAF
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_Plain#Military_use

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-May-2023 21:28	Nepa	Updated