Date:	Friday 18 June 1948
Time:
Type:	Airspeed Oxford Mk 1
Owner/operator:	1510 (BABS) Flt RAF
Registration:	HM678
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Bircham Newton. Docking, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:	RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk

Narrative:
Airspeed Oxford HM678, 1510 (BABS) Flight RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) in a landing accident at RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk.

The aircraft had landed safely at RAF Bircham Newton, and the pilot then commenced his post-landing drills. In error, he selected "undercarriage up" instead of "flaps up", which caused the undercarriage of Oxford HM678 to retract, causing damage to the aircraft's undersides.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the incident to pilot error. The pilot usually flew Avro Ansons - on the Anson the flaps and undercarriage levers were in the opposite positions. The Oxford was written off as Cat. E2, although the crew seems to have been uninjured.

1510 (BAT) Flight was formed at RAF Leuchars on 8-11-41. "BAT" stood for "Beam Approach Training"; in March 1943 the unit was renamed 1510 (BABS) Flight - "BABS" stood for "Blind Approach Beam System" and it retained this designation until it was disbanded on 30-9-48.

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.408
3. The Oxford Consul & Envoy File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 2001)
4. Royal Air Force Aircraft HA100-HZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
5. 1510 Flight RAF ORB for the period 1-2-41 to 30-9-48: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/873/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161940
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Beam_approach_beacon_system_units
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bircham_Newton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Apr-2023 21:42	Dr. John Smith	Added