Date:	Thursday 17 October 1946
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	7 SFTS RAF
Registration:	T7615
MSN:	84017
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1 mile west of Sandridge, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Panshanger, Hertfordshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth, MSN 84017: Taken on charge as T7615 (presumed nominally) at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 30.11.40. However, placed into long-term storage in ‘purgatory’ at the Tun Room, Bicester, Oxfordshire. Returned to Morris Morris, Cowley, Oxford (undated, but probably 9.41) for erection. To 1 EFTS Hatfield 22.9.41; to RAF Holwell Hyde (later renamed RAF Panshanger, Hertfordshire) 9.42

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 17.10.46 when crashed near Sandridge, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire: While performing a training flight at low height, the Tiger Moth collided with a RAF Airspeed Oxford Mk.I RR336, of 12 MU CF, (12 Maintainence Unit Communications Flight). The Tiger Moth was carrying a crew of two, the Airspeed Oxford also had two on board

Both aircraft went out of control, dove into the ground and crashed in a field located one mile west of Sandridge. Both aircraft were destroyed and all four crew members (two in each aircraft) were killed.

Crew of Tiger Moth T7615:
Flight Lieutenant (Pilot) Leslie Norman Empson, Service Number 153370, aged 22. Killed on active service 17/10/46. Buried at Stoke Road Cemetery, Slough, Berkshire
Sub-Lieutenant George A Greenwood (Royal Canadian Navy) Killed on active service 17/10/46

Crew of Airspeed Oxford RR336
Wing Commander (Pilot) Edward Charles Croker Tomkins, DFC, Service Number 39910, aged 28. Killed on active service 17/10/46. Buried at Hatfield Road Cemetery, St. Albans, Hertfordshire
AC.1 Spencer William Hichens, Service Number 1179407, aged 26. Killed on active service 17/10/46. Buried at Penzance Cemetery, Penzance, Cornwall

(See link #10 which quotes a brief mention in the "The Times" of 18 October 1946). Always dangerous to make assumptions but the reference to 'an inadequate lookout' in the "Times" report. High pressure had dominated the weather for several days and it was probable the visibility was reduced by haze, which couldn't have made things easy. Tiger Moth T7615 formally Struck Off Charge as Cat.E(FA) 28.11.46.

The reported crash location of Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England, at approximate co ordinates 51.78084°N 0.30384°W.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.54. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft T1000-V9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Write-Offs 1946: Air-Britain Aeromiltaria. Air-Britain, Vol 2 (issue 4, pages 93–106. 1979).
4. "The Times" of 18 October 1946
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mid-air_collisions_and_incidents_in_the_United_Kingdom#1940s
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p840.html
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as10-oxford-sandridge-1-killed
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2706665/empson,-leslie-norman/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2933072/tomkins,-edward-charles-crocker/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2948621/hichens,-spencer-william/
11. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?4824-W-C-E-C-C-Tomkins-DFC-(39910)&p=27117#post27117
12. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
13. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas2510-RCN.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Nov-2019 01:03	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Nov-2019 22:01	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]
28-Aug-2021 20:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
29-May-2023 09:05	Nepa	Updated [[Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]]