Date:	Monday 23 August 1948
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	London UAS RAF
Registration:	DE954
MSN:	85825
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Kings Land, Shipley, 8 miles south of Horsham, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Shoreham Airport, West Sussex (EGKA)
Destination airport:	Fairoaks Airport, Chobham, Woking, Surrey (EGTF)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 85825: Taken on charge as DE954 nominally at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 27.7.42. However, placed into long-term storage locally in ‘purgatory’ in the Oxfordshire area; returned to Morris Motors, Cowley, Oxford for erection 10.2.44. To 20 MU RAF Aston Down, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire 26.2.44. To 25 [P]EFTS, RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire 22.3.45; coded ‘7’. To 16 [P]SFTS RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire 13.11.45. To 22 EFTS RAF Teversham, Cambridge 12.12.46. To 22 RFS RAF Teversham, Cambridge 26.6.47; operated by Cambridge UAS (University Air Squadron). To 18 RFS RAF Fairoaks, Chobham, Woking, Surrey 15.12.47; operated by London UAS (University Air Squadron) coded "RUL-E"

Written off (destroyed) 23.8.48, when crashed at Shipley, south of Horsham, West Sussex. Both crew killed. The aircraft was engaged on a sortie that involved practice forced landings and low flying. At approximately 200 feet, climbing away from an approach (during a forced landing practice) the pilot allowed the aircraft to stall, and it commenced a right handed spin, which was corrected. However, the Tiger Moth struck the ground in the resulting dive before recovery.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("West Sussex County Times" - Friday 27 August 1948)

"TWO DIE IN AIR CRASH.
TRAINER NOSEDIVES INTO GROUND AT SHIPLEY.
D.F.C. PILOT KILLED.
Two members of the Cambridge University Air Squadron attached to Shoreham Airport were killed instantly when a Tiger Moth training aircraft in which they were flying nosedived into a field at Shipley on Monday.

The 'plane crashed within a few yards of "Kings Land", Shipley, the Sussex home of Hilaire Belloc, the novelist. It narrowly missed the windmill and dived into the ground by the hedge near the front entrance to the house. The fire brigade were summoned from Horsham but there was no fire.

QUALIFIED PILOTS
The two men killed were Flying Officer Douglas William Finlay, 24, Mayes-road, Kensington Gardens, Surrey; and Flying Officer Kenneth Alec Dixon Forder, 15, Kensington Clouk Gardens, London. Both men had served operational tours of duty with the R.A.F. during the war and were fully qualified pilots. F/O Finlay had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

At the inquest at Horsham on Wednesday the Coroner (Mr. F. W. Butler) returned a verdict of accidental death caused by multiple injuries received in an air crash. The Adjutant of the Cambridge University Air Squadron, Flight-Lieut. G. H. Deacon, told the Coroner that both men had just graduated at the University.

Their flying instructor, F/O F. G. Welch. said that he detailed the flight from Shoreham airport. Both men had previously been on a solo flight that morning, one of them in the crashed aircraft.

WARNED ABOUT WIND
"I warned them about the wind conditions, which were very gusty, and told them, as qualified pilots, to watch out for it," he said. They were authorised not to fly below 250 feet and had ample petrol for the flight, which was scheduled to last for an hour.

A farm labourer. Mr. Arthur Hain, Cook's Cottage, Shipley, gave an eye-witness account of the accident. "I heard the roar of an engine and saw this plane in a steep dive," he said. "My first impression was that it was only a normal dive, but then I realised that it was getting too close to the ground. The 'plane crashed behind the house."

CLIMBED, THEN DIVED
Mr. Phillip Winston Belloc Jebb, grandson of Mr. Hilaire Belloc, said the 'plane had been diving and climbing steeply prior to the crash. It had been doing manoeuvres into wind, but then climbed down-wind and shut off the engine. The engine then came on again, and the aircraft appeared to accelerate straight into the ground.

Question by the Coroner, he said the 'plane appeared to be almost stationary at the top of the climb and was apparently out of control on the dive before hitting the ground.

The scene of the crash is only a short distance from R.A.F. Coolham which is being used by training aircraft for practiced forced landings."
Crew of Tiger Moth DE954:
F/O (126593) Kenneth Alec Dickson Forder (pilot u/t) RAF - killed
F/O (127948) Douglas William Finlay DFC (QFI Instructor pilot) RAF - killed

The reported crash location of Shipley is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A272 road 6 miles (10 kilometres) north east of Storrington, and 7.5 miles south of Horsham

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.158 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946-1949 p 420 by Colin Cummings
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1985)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p858.html
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37965/supplement/2395/data.pdf
7. http://www.westsussex.info/shipley.shtml
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipley,_West_Sussex

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Feb-2020 00:15	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Feb-2020 00:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-Feb-2020 08:14	Iwosh	Updated [Operator, Operator]
02-Sep-2021 19:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
04-Sep-2021 05:04	DandyF.	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]