Date:	Saturday 11 May 1946
Time:
Type:	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito T Mk III
Owner/operator:	13 OTU RAF
Registration:	LR565
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bankdam Farm, near Wheatley Hill, County Durham, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Middleton St. George, Co. Durham
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Mosquito LR565: Took off for Training flight 11/05/1946
Dived into ground during instrument flying at Bankdam Farm, near Wheatley Hill, County Durham. The aeroplane was being flown on instruments at low level when it reportedly spun in after a loss of control by the pupil pilot.
Crew: 
W/O (1219647) Ernest Christopher GOODMAN (pilot) RAFVR - killed
F/Lt (45986) Arthur George WILLIAMS DFC (pilot) RAF - killed

According to a contemporary report into the accident (The Sunderland Echo of May 18th 1946):
"BAD DAY FOR FLYING"
Mosquito Crew Died Accidentally
"Accidentally killed while on duty with the R.A.F." was the verdict of Coroner T. V. Devey at an inquest at the Police Station, Thornley, last night, on the two aircrew who were killed in the plane crash t Wheatley Hill near Thornley last Saturday. The men were Flt-Lieut. Arthur George Williams, of Highbury, Crymlyn Road, Skewen, Glamorgan, and Warrant Officer Ernest Christopher Goodman, of Abbey Farm, Kenton, near Fakenham, Norfolk. It was a rather bad day for flying, with mist and low clouds.

David Thomas Griffiths, of Thornlaw, Thornley, a miner, said he was walking along the road from Trimdon to Thornley, and heard an aeroplane. As the sound of the plane came nearer the engine seemed to be missing fire. He next saw the plane coming down in a nose dive. It plunged nose first into a field about 50-yards from where he was standing, and on striking the ground, exploded and burst into flames."

According to another eyewitness report:
"The Hospital Farm (Bankdam Farm) was at one time the Smallpox Isolation Hospital, and the wood adjacent to the farm was called Hospital Farm wood. There are some brick ruins in the wood, and according to the maps, may have been lime kilns. There were lots of high trees to climb and lots of places to play. My father told me at one time that after the war, a plane crashed producing the crater next to the wood. The aircraft was a De Havilland Mosquito serial number LR565. It was one of a batch of 59 machines built at De Havilland's Leavesden factory. LR565 was serving with 13 OTU at RAF Middleton St George (now Teesside Airport). It took off from there on 11th May 1946 on an exercise, shortly afterwards the aeroplane was seen to dive into the ground near Wheatley Hill, Thornley, County Durham. The crew were both killed' they were Pilot W/O Goodman & P/O Williams. The engines buried in Hospital Wood were recovered in October 1979".

1. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2. ORB 13 OTU : AIR29/651
3. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4100360
4. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/de-havilland-mk-iii-mosquito-engine.
5. The Sunderland Echo of May 18th 1946
6. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4
7. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.141
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=17142
9. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2763567/ernest-christopher-goodman/
10. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2717172/arthur-george-williams/
11. Durham County Council: The Old Hospital, Bankdam Farm, Wheatley Hill, DURHAM, is property located in Trimdon and Thornley Ward of County Durham. It is located nine-miles east of Durham City.

The recovered engine of Mosquito LR565 on display in the Bamburgh Castle Aviation Artefacts Museum, Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK. 12th September 2017:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Jun-2012 08:53	Nepa	Added
09-Feb-2014 19:15	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
01-Jun-2014 15:38	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
24-Aug-2015 19:02	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
14-May-2019 07:16	Nepa	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Narrative, Operator]
11-Nov-2019 21:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
12-Nov-2019 13:44	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator]
13-Nov-2019 08:23	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
03-Feb-2021 18:50	Nepa	Updated [Source, Operator]
06-Jun-2021 08:47	Anon.	Updated [Location, Source, Operator]
10-Jun-2021 20:20	Xindel	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]
10-Jun-2021 20:21	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator]
27-Jun-2021 09:09	Anon.	Updated [Time, Operator]
05-Jul-2021 09:37	Next	Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator]
17-Jul-2021 17:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative, Category]
17-Jul-2021 20:45	Next	Updated [Time, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
28-Nov-2021 22:22	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
01-Sep-2022 17:49	Nepa	Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator]
27-Jun-2023 21:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Source, Narrative, Operator]]
28-Jun-2023 09:38	Nepa	Updated [[[Source, Narrative, Operator]]]
05-Nov-2023 14:39	Paul Allonby	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]