Date:	Wednesday 26 March 1941
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth II
Owner/operator:	3 EFTS RAF
Registration:	R5062
MSN:	82957
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lechlade, Gloucestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Watchfield, Oxfordshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth MSN 82957 (Gipsy Major #82793). Taken on charge by the RAF as R5062 at 8 MU RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire 28.3.40. To 6 EFTS RAF Sywell, Northamptonshire 13.11.40. To 3 EFTS RAF Watchfield, Oxfordshire 21.12.40.

Written off (destroyed) when spun into the ground from 7,000 feet near Lechlade, Gloucestershire 26.3.41. Both crew killed. Instructor Flt/Sgt Rudolf Tesárek died: pupil pilot under training Sgt Jaroslav Hloužek uninjured. During a training flight, Tesárek performed a spin in an airplane fitted with bomb racks under the fuselage, which made the aircraft unsuitable for aerobatics. At the last spin, the machine became uncontrollable. Hloužek managed to strain every effort to bail out, but not Tesárek, and he died on impact.

Crew:
Flt/Sgt (787178) Rudolf TESÁREK (Instructor PIlot) RAFVR - killed
Sgt (787338) Jaroslav HLOUŽEK (Pilot under training) RAFVR - bailed out, survived, parachuted to the ground

Struck off charge as FACE (Flying Accident Cat.E) 7.4.41

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1980)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/5572: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16689670
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p829.html
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2437354/RUDOLF%20TESAREK/
5. https://www.bcsa.co.uk/never-forgotten/
6. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
7. http://www.theygavetheirtoday.com/watchfield-military-cemetery.html
8. http://flymag.cz/article.php?id=6171
9. http://www.vets.estranky.cz/clanky/vpm-okres-kladno/kladno.html
10. http://www.khl-jhradec.cz/?clanek=60
11. Pilot's grave marker: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96555212@N08/50036981637/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lechlade

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Feb-2012 13:26	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Dec-2018 17:44	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
14-Aug-2020 09:28	T.T.Taylor	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Operator]
06-Aug-2021 16:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
06-Aug-2021 16:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase]
06-Aug-2021 16:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
06-Aug-2021 16:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
06-Aug-2021 21:06	SD	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]
20-Feb-2022 19:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
20-Feb-2022 23:54	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]