Date:	Monday 20 August 1956
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T Mk 10
Owner/operator:	Maintenance Command CS RAF
Registration:	WG457
MSN:	C1/0507
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hurstbourne Tarrant, 4 miles NE of Andover, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Andover, Hampshire (EGWA/ADV)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 WG457, Maintenance Command Communications Squadron, RAF. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20 August 1956. After recovering from a loop during a tail chase, the pilot found that he was very close to the ground, with a railway viaduct on one side, HT cables on the other, and a hill in front. He pulled up sharply, stalled and crashed at Hurstbourne Tarrant, 4 miles North East of Andover, Hampshire

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Birmingham Daily Post" - Tuesday 21 August 1956):

"Pilot and Cadet Rescued
Aircraft Down in Watercress Beds
When a training plane from the R.A.F. station at Andover crashed into watercress beds near Hurstbourne viaduct, about four miles from Andover, yesterday, the pilot and an A.T.C. cadet were rescued by workmen.

Pilot Officer Nigel Everett, of Andover R.A.F. station, the pilot, was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester, and it is understood that he has head injuries and fractures of both ankles. The passenger, stated to be Henry Leadbetter, aged 15, from 1301 Squadron, A.T.C., whose home is believed to be in the North of England, received only slight facial injuries."

Wreckage recovered by (and to) 71 MU RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire, where the airframe was deemed beyond economic repair and Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(s) on 18 October 1956. Authorised to be reduced to scrap and produce, and scrapped at Bicester in October/November 1956.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.182 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 44)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.207
4. Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 21 August 1956
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurstbourne_Tarrant
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WG

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Jun-2008 02:43	JINX	Added
09-Nov-2011 06:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Feb-2020 22:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
14-Feb-2020 13:42	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
18-Feb-2020 20:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
24-Jun-2020 21:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
25-Jun-2020 13:41	Allach	Updated [Operator, Operator]