Date:	Thursday 8 February 1951
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	23 RFS RAF
Registration:	NM213
MSN:	86521
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Great Knipe Hill, Stainmore, Cumberland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Usworth, Sunderland, County Durham
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 86521; Taken on charge as NM213 notionally at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 9.3.44. However placed into long-term storage in ‘purgatory’ in the Oxford area; returned to Morris Motors at Cowley, Oxford for erection [undated, but probably September 1945]. To 38 MU RAF Llandow, Glamorgan 27.9.45. To 23 RFS (Reserve Flying School) RAF Usworth, Sunderland, County, Durham 11.1.49, coded “RSA-B”

On 8.2.51 the pilot of this aircraft was undertaking a training flight from RAF Usworth, near Sunderland, County, Durham, when either a snow storm blew in, or he flew too far in a snow storm and the aircraft crashed in the Stainmore area. Michael Hurst's "Lake" District book on aircraft crashes has probably the most detailed reference to this incident. He states that the impact broke the pilot's harness and flung him out into a snow drift. Suffering only ankle injuries he was able to make his way off the hillside to a road and was able to gain a lift to hospital from a passing motorist. Michael Hurst also states the pilot lived in the Brough area at the time of the incident and quotes Great Knipe Hill as the crash location. (Other published sources quote the crash site as "near Brough").

Great Knipe Hill is a hill situated just to the north-west of the summit of the Stainmore Gap, the highest point of the A66 between Scotch Corner and Brough, at approximate cocordinates 54'52539825" N, 2'20334758" W. The altitude is approximately 1689 feet (515 metres)

Pilot - F/O William Swinburne Bateson RAFVR (153085). Slightly injured.

William Bateson was born 19th July 1917 in Kirby in Furness. He received a commission in the RAFVR on 6th August 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation, he rose to F/O (war subs) on 6th February 1944 and rising to Flt/Lt on an unknown date but probably 18 months later as was the normal progression. As Flt/Lt he was awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air on 13th June 1946 for service with 52 Squadron, Transport Command. He qualified as a member of the Royal Aero Club (Cert.No.22932) on 25th June 1947. He served in the RAFVR until relinquishing his commission on 17th May 1959. At the time of the accident on Stainmore was living in the Brough area as proprietor of the Castle Hotel, Brough and must have been the RAF Reserve at the time.

He also force landed a Miles Messenger after running out of fuel near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire on 12th March 1957 while flying a motor racing driver (also of Brough) from Blackpool to Silverstone motor racing circuit to test a car. Neither men were injured and the passenger, Cliff Allison, was dispatched to the nearest car petrol station to get some fuel. The aircraft was re-fuelled and took off and completed the flight. On 4th November 1960 he was involved in another mishap when, after taking off in Auster G-AMMZ from an airstrip on Brough showfield when he suffered engine failure. The aircraft struck a wire fence and then a hedge and overturned, one of his two passengers was trapped in the cockpit for a time before being released and taken to hospital.

William Bateson later moved to the Blackpool area and took a role as chief instructor with Air Navigation & Trading Co. Ltd which was later renamed Blackpool Air Services. He later became the proprietor and chief flying instructor of the Blackpool and Fylde Aero Club, based at Blackpool Airport. He was killed in a flying accident on 16th May 1970 while flying in Beagle Pup G-AXIB (which his club owned) which crashed on approach to land at Blackpool Airport with him and a pupil on board. They had been carrying out an evening dual control aerobatics training flight before the crash occurred in the undershoot area of the airfield. At the time of his death he had logged 7,459 hours flying as a pilot. He was fifty three years old.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.112 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.114
3. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/nm213.html
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p865.html
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
6. http://mynorthpennines.co.uk/hills-moor-fells/great-knipe/
7. http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails.php?rf=3606

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2021 22:04	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Jan-2021 22:07	MuDr.Roup	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
01-Oct-2021 16:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
01-Oct-2021 16:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
05-Dec-2021 23:39	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]