Date:	Friday 16 September 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Miles Master T Mk 2
Owner/operator:	CGS RAF
Registration:	DL981
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Widdop Road, 5.5 miles NW of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	RAF Leconfield, East Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Squires Gate, Lancashire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Miles Master DL981 (Central Gunnery School RAF): Written off (destroyed) 16-9-1949 when crashed near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

F/Sgt. Reginald Price detailed to transport F/O Rowe from RAF Leconfield to RAF Squires Gate, Blackpool. Briefing was to fly at 2000 ft under Visual Flight Rules and to return to base if the weather prevented him from reaching the destination.

It seems that the aircraft entered cloud at 800 ft. and flew into high ground at Widdop Road, 5.5 miles North West of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, 100 yards from the "Pack Horse" public house, clipping a dry-stone wall then hitting the next before crashing into a field opposite - killing both crew members.
Crew:
F/Sgt (1339581) Reginald Brasington PRICE (1.pilot) RAF - Killed 16-9-1949
F/O (58062) Sydney Inman ROWE (2.pilot) RAF : Killed 16-9-1949

Witnesses reported hearing the aircraft circle the moors above, but could not see it because of the low cloud. Some said they heard the revving of its engine before the noise of the crash sent them hurrying to the scene. It’s not known why, but evidently the pilot was trying to land the aircraft. Were it not for two drystone walls barring his path, he may have made it, this field being one of the few relatively level spots in an area of steep and rough moorland.

DL981 clipped the top stones of the lower wall and tumbled into the wall on the right, overturned and burned in the field. The demolished wall has been rebuilt, but it’s not as good a job as the original. The Pennine Way passes within about 300m of this site.

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.551
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. Hebden Bridge Gazette 17 September 1949
5. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/price-reginald.html
6. https://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/miles-master-dl981-near-hebden-bridge/
7. https://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_22.html
8. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/military/Crashes_in_Northern_England.pdf
9. https://thepackhorseinn.co.uk/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebden_Bridge

Own research

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Jul-2017 08:42	pietrzak	Added
29-Nov-2018 09:37	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]