Date:	Tuesday 13 August 1957
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	8 FTS RAF
Registration:	VZ119
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Besthorpe, 8 miles NE of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Swinderby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Worksop, Nottinghamshire (EGYW)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.Mk.5 VZ119: Delivered 1/9/1949. Operation service career was with 71 Squadron, 266 Squadron, 5 Squadron, 4 Squadron, RAF Jever, Germany (from 28/5/1953 until Cat.4(R) accident 16/7/1953; oddly, for a RAF Germany-based aircraft, the accident was at Brooklands Aerodrome, Weybridge, Surrey), 7 FTS, 5 FTS, 7 FTS (a second time), and lastly with 8 FTS

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 13/8/1957: The aircraft was number three in a three-aircraft formation, undertaking staff continuation training. All three aircraft were letting down for an approach to RAF Worksop from 10,000 feet.

At 5,000 feet, the three aircraft formation entered cloud, and Vampire VZ119 lost contact with the other two aircraft in the formation. At some point shortly after this, the pilot abandoned Vampire VZ119 in flight, but was struck by part of the airframe during the bale-out, and was fatally injured. The reason why the pilot abandoned his aircraft in flight was never discovered by the Board of Inquiry.

Crew of Vampire VZ119:
Flight Lieutenant David John Kirkup, RAF (pilot, Service Number 1865581, aged 31) - killed on active service 13/8/1957

Note that the official Board of Inquiry file into the incident at the National Archives in Kew (File AVIA 5/37/S2889 - see link #4) gives the crash location as "near RAF Swinderby" [sic] which is where Vampire VZ119 took off from, and not where it came down!

The actual crash location of Besthorpe is a small village in north-east Nottinghamshire close to the border with Lincolnshire. It is a Civil Parish in the Newark & Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, 1.5 miles north of the larger village of Collingham, eight miles north east of Newark on Trent. (At approximate co ordinates 53.10165°N 0.4620°W)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.192 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 101)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.258
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/37/S2889: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578669
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
7. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besthorpe,_Nottinghamshire

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Aug-2020 18:59	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Aug-2020 19:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
10-Aug-2020 07:42	MIG21	Updated [Operator, Operator]