Date:	Wednesday 11 October 1950
Time:
Type:	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk 34
Owner/operator:	237 OCU RAF
Registration:	PF658
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Stelling Minnis, near Elham, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Mosquito PF658: Took off carrying out photographic exercises 11/10/1950.
Was carrying out at a height of 20,000 feet and a speed of 180 knots the aircraft, without any warning, made a sudden and violent turn and then fell away into a steep dive. The pilot reported that after the first turn and dive, the aircraft seemed to 'stand on its tail' and then commenced a dive in the opposite direction. At 15,000 feet, by coarse use of the flying controls and after closing the throttles, the pilot managed to regain some control but as soon as the throttles were opened again the Mosquito became uncontrollable. By this time it was at a very low height and a forced landing was decided upon - a successful wheels-up landing was carried out in a field at Stelling Minnis, Kent, and the crew of two walked away without injury.
Crew:
F/O (2330336) Peter George NICKOLL (pilot) RAF: Ok
P/O (4034675) Chesney William Noel KENNEDY (nav.) RAF: Ok

Examination of the Mosquito at the scene showed that the aircraft had touched down tail wheel first and slid along on its belly for 250 yards. Both propellers were torn off together with the starboard outer undercarriage door. This was significant, as the port undercarriage door was still intact. Other damage noted was that a large area of fabric was missing from the rudder, and it was obvious that this had occurred in flight rather than on landing. The conclusion drawn from all this was that the starboard undercarriage door had opened in flight, rendering the aircraft unstable.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Kent Messenger" - Friday 13 October 1950)

"KENT PILOT WALKS HOME
Crash-landed in his own village
Pilot Officer Peter Nickoll, stationed at Benson, Oxfordshire, dropped quite unexpectedly into his home village of Stelling Minnis, near Canterbury, on Wednesday afternoon. He had been on a reconnaissance flight in a Mosquito over Dover when an engine failed. The aircraft crashed-landed in Farmer Hoare's field, next door to Stelling Minnis's village inn, the Rose and Crown, and a quarter of a mile from Peter's father's baker shop.

Mr. Alec Hoare told a reporter: "I was working with my son Aubrey when we saw the aircraft in trouble. I could see that the pilot had made up his mind to pancake. He flew below the telephone wires, hit the ground, and came tearing towards us at a terrific rate. The noise was deafening. We had no cover and both thought it was the end. Somehow the plane slowed up and it slithered to a stop a yard in front of us. I ran up to the plane before the pilot had time to push back his cockpit hood. The Mosquito had broken in two behind the wings."

"'Why, It's Peter!' Aubrey exclaimed. The young pilot - I did not recognise him right away - replied, 'You're right, it's Peter.' They went to school together. Peter seemed very annoyed at the crash."

Peter telephoned his commanding officer and, with his navigator, walked along to his father's shop. Mrs. Millie Nickoll had been blackberrying. When her son walked in she thought he had come on leave.

"I made them both a cup of tea and then an R.A.F. car took them to sick quarters at Hawkinge," she said.

Both men were slightly bruised and Peter had a nasty bump on top of his head. Because Hawkinge is an all-W.R.A.F. camp, there was no accommodation for the two officers, so they were driven back to Stelling Minnis to stay the night.

In the oil-lit kitchen the family sat round the green-topped table. With the two airmen were Peter's younger brother, his married sister Betty, who had come over from Petham on hearing the news, his admiring sisters Barbara, 17, and Rosemary, aged 12, and the village constable.

VILLAGERS' CONGRATULATIONS
All through the evening delighted villagers called to congratulate Peter on an inspired piece of flying that had not only saved two airmen's lives, but those of Farmer Hoare and his son. Peter, who is 22, has long been the idol of the village children and grown-ups. An ex-A T.C. boy, he took top honours in flying examinations. A fine scholar and sportsman, he played football and cricket for the village team. He was head boy at the Simon Langton School, Canterbury, captain of the school cricket XI and of the soccer team. He won a scholarship to the R.A.F. College, Cranwell.

"He was one of those rare, outstanding boys in all respects and we are sure he has a great future in front of him," a reporter was told at the school yesterday.

The Nickoll family was bombed out of Dover in 1940".

1. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txt
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings
3. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 12 October 1950 
4. Kent Messenger - Friday 13 October 1950
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 233/33:
6.https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424154
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2508: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578354
8. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=734.0
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelling_Minnis

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Aug-2013 22:26	JINX	Added
30-Sep-2013 09:40	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total occupants]
30-May-2014 10:16	Nepa	Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
29-Aug-2014 14:13	MUDr. Roup	Updated [Location]
25-Jul-2015 05:15	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Location]
02-Mar-2016 22:36	Next	Updated [Total fatalities, Source, Narrative]
02-Apr-2019 18:45	Nepa	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Narrative, Operator]
23-Dec-2019 23:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
23-Dec-2019 23:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
23-Dec-2019 23:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
24-Dec-2019 09:39	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, Operator]
17-Feb-2020 03:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
17-Feb-2020 03:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
18-Feb-2020 21:46	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative, Operator]
02-Jan-2021 04:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
02-Aug-2021 17:49	Anon.	Updated [Time, Operator]
27-Nov-2021 17:43	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]