Date:	Thursday 10 January 1946
Time:	20:00
Type:	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito NF Mk 30
Owner/operator:	54 OTU RAF
Registration:	NT544
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Blackburn Edge, near Keld, Swaledale, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF East Moor, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Mosquito NT544: Took off at 17:30 hrs for a night NAVEX exercise over Northern England. 10/01/1946
Two and a half hours into the flight at 20:00 hrs the aircraft flew into high ground at 1,900 feet ASL at Blackburn Edge, near Keld, Swaledale, 2 miles west of Aygil, North Yorkshire, killing the two crew and the wreckage was spread over a wide area.

As no evidence of mechanical failure was found by an RAF investigation team and icing wasn't considered to be a factor, the accident was attributed to the crew having failed to maintain a minimum clearance altitude of 2000 ft AGL as they had been briefed.
Crew: 
F/Lt (136211) Thomas Abel ROSKILLY (pilot) RAFVR - killed 
F/Sgt (1630314) Sydney Arthur WHITING (nav.) RAFVR - killed 

F/Lt Roskilly flew during the War and was converting to the Mosquito type at the time of his death. Thomas Roskilly received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 16th January 1943 and was promoted to F/O on probation (war subs) on 16th July 1943 and later to F/Lt. He was awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, Gazetted on 3rd April 1945 for service in the Rhodesian Air Training Group. At his death he had amassed over 1500 hours flying time. His name is commemorated on the Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford War Memorial.

Sydney Whiting was born on 23rd April 1923 in Greenwich, London to Harold Percy and Alice Beatrice Whiting of Charlton. He enlisted into the RAFVR on 26th June 1942 and went down the route of training as a navigator. After training at 1 E.A.N.S. he was posted to 9 A.O.S in Canada and on his return to Britain posted to 62 OTU to train as a radar operator to fly as part of the night-fighter force. He was posted to 54 OTU on 29th May 1945 just before 62 OTU disbanded and arrived at East Moor when they moved in at the start of November 1945 where he remained until his death.

Mosquito NT544 was built by De Havilland at Leavesden and was delivered as new to 218 M.U. on 15th March 1945. The aircraft was taken on charge by 406 Squadron on 3rd April 1945 but transferred to 54 O.T.U. on 5th September 1945. As a result of the crash on 10th January 1946 Cat. E/FA damage was the damage assessment and the aircraft was struck off charge on 23rd January 1946.

1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txt
2.ORB 54 OTU RAF
3.https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161027
4.Aircraft Wrecks: Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors by Nick Wotherspoon, Alan Clark, Mark Sheldon
5.http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/nt544.html
6. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/de-havilland-mosquito-nt544-keld/
7. http://laituk.org/Mosquito%20NT544.htm
8. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=NT544

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Feb-2010 10:23	NePa	Added
28-Jan-2012 13:29	Nepa	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Sep-2014 20:13	Faun	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
29-Aug-2015 11:43	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
07-Oct-2018 23:56	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
01-Apr-2019 07:40	Nepa	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Operator]
03-Nov-2019 03:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
07-Nov-2019 18:29	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
30-May-2021 22:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
31-May-2021 21:24	wifi	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative, Operator]
03-Jun-2021 18:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
04-Jun-2021 11:52	Anon.	Updated [Time, Source, Operator]
08-Jun-2021 21:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
09-Jun-2021 09:15	Adellaida	Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator]
09-Jun-2021 09:26	Anon.	Updated [Operator]
28-Nov-2021 21:14	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
30-Nov-2021 10:40	Nepa	Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator]
28-Jul-2023 08:52	Nepa	Updated [[Source, Narrative, Operator]]
30-Jul-2023 11:42	Nepa	Updated [[[Source, Narrative, Operator]]]
12-Aug-2023 08:01	Nepa	Updated [[[[Source, Narrative, Operator]]]]