Date:	Thursday 16 June 1949
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	22 FTS RAF
Registration:	R4965
MSN:	82873
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Knapthorpe Manor Farm, 1 mile S of Caunton, Nottinghamshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
de Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth MSN 82873 (Gipsy Major #82711): Taken on charge as R4965 at 27 MU RAF Shawbury, Shropshire 6.3.40. To 19 EFTS RAF Sealand 6.2.41. To 15 EFTS RAF Carlisle, Cumberland 30.6.41; [reported as coded "27", later "FIJ-G"]. To 22 SFTS, RAF Syerston 8.1.48; renamed 22 FTS 2.2.48; coded ‘FCK-K’.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) when hit ground during forced landing practice, Knapthorpe Manor Farm, 1 mile South of Caunton, near Newark, Nottinghamshire 16.6.49. The instructor was demonstrating forced landing techniques, and during these, allowed the aircraft's undercarriage to become entangled in long grass. Realising that the Tiger Moth would not be able to climb away, during the arresting nature of the undercarriage entanglement in the long grass, the pilot closed the throttle, and the Tiger Moth 'nosed over' into the long grass.

Not repaired. Struck off charge as FACE (Flying Accident Cat. E) in July 1949

RAF Syerston was taken over by Flying Training Command on 8-1-48, when No. 22 Service Flying Training School (22 SFTS) arrived from RAF Ouston, the unit was renamed to No. 22 FTS one day later. The unit trained pilots for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Other nearby RAF airfields used for flying circuits were RAF Newton (February 1948 - November 1951) and RAF Tollerton (November 1951 - May 1955). The training school became No. 1 Flying Training School (1 FTS) on 1 May 1955.

Caunton is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire on the A616, six miles (9.7 km) north-west of Newark-on-Trent. A grass airstrip, suitable only for microlight aircraft, still exists at the crash site. (Caunton Airfield (Microlight Site) 1 Knapthorpe Lodge, Knapthorpe, Newark NG23 6AZ).

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.505
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1980)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p828.html
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Syerston#Post-war_use
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caunton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Mar-2023 21:00	Dr. John Smith	Added