Date:	Saturday 30 March 1940
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	10 EFTS RAF
Registration:	G-AESO
MSN:	3587
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rough Hill, near Berwick Bassett, 2 miles NE of Avebury, Wiltshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN3587 (Gipsy Major #8982) Registered as G-AESO [C of R 7600] 18.3.37 to Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd., Filton, Bristol, Gloucestershire, and operated by 10 E&RFTS Yatesbury, Wiltshire. C of A 5838 issued 16.4.37. Unit renamed 10 EFTS after outbreak of war 3.9.39. Written off (destroyed) when dived into the ground at Rough Hill, near Berwick Bassett, 2 miles North East of Avebury, Wiltshire 30.3.40; pilot Sergeant Robert Hughes Innes Scott-Kerr (748592) RAF killed. From the ORB (Operation Record Book) of 10 EFTS for March 1940 (see link #4) :

"Yatesbury MAR 30. 748592 SGT SCOTT-KERR R H I was killed in a flying accident. This was the first fatal accident since the formation of the School in January 1936"

Robert Hughes Innes Scott-Kerr, of Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Irish Republic, was, in March 1940, a trainee pilot at No.10 Elementary Training Flying School at RAF Yatesbury. On 30 March 1940, after a successful flight with his Instructor, Sgt Gibbs, in a Tiger Moth (G-AESO) the Pilot was ordered to take off and perform a series of approaches, steep turns, climbing turns and aerobatics. He was given a set of guidelines on how to behave whilst performing these tasks.

A Tractor driver working near Avesbury found the aircraft crashed on a hillside two miles northeast of Avebury (probably Rough Hill, east of Berwick Bassett) and the pilot dead. The cause of the crash was not established. This was the first fatal accident with 10 EFTS since the formation of the School in January 1936. The Tiger Moth, that was probably a "mobilized" aircraft that never received a RAF serial; it had stalled and dived vertically into the ground according to one source. Robert is buried in the All Saints Churchyard, Yatesbury.

Registration G-AESO formally cancelled 30.3.40 as "Withdrawn from use"

1. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8100-Two-Tiger-Moth-losses-Feb-Mar-1940
2. https://scarletboy44.tumblr.com/post/20183603410/remember-sergeant-robert-hughes-innes-scott-kerr
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) file AVIA 5/19/W747: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576945
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1959: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16471225
5. 10 EFTS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1.8.35 to 31.7.42: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/618/3 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160937
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AESO.pdf
7. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/78-register-gb-g-ae
8. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
9. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2710569/ROBERT%20HUGHES%20INNES%20SCOTT-KERR/
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/05234.php
11. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8100-Two-Tiger-Moth-losses-Feb-Mar-1940
12. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p035.html
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury_(village)
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwick_Bassett

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Jul-2017 10:17	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
28-Oct-2017 19:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Oct-2017 19:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
03-Aug-2021 19:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, Category]
03-Aug-2021 19:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport]
03-Aug-2021 19:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, Category]
03-Aug-2021 19:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
03-Aug-2021 19:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
03-Aug-2021 19:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location]
03-Aug-2021 19:48	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]
19-Feb-2022 00:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]