Date:	Wednesday 30 May 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Prentice T Mk I
Owner/operator:	7 FTS RAF
Registration:	VS290
MSN:	5810/25
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Kirkby Underwood, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Cottesmore, Rutland (EGXJ)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Prentice T.Mk.1 VS290, 7 FTS, RAF Cottesmore: delivered 20/10/1948. Written off 30/5/1951 while on a solo flying training and aerobatics practice sortie from RAF Cottesmore, Rutland. The aircraft went into a flat spin at 2,000 feet, and the pilot failed to recover the aircraft from the spin before it hit the ground at Kirkby Underwood, Lincolnshire. Pilot was killed on impact with the ground.
Crew:
Officer Cadet James RENTON (pilot) RAF - killed

According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Leicester Evening Mail" 4 June 1951):

"'ACCIDENTAL' VERDICT ON COTTESMORE PILOT
A VERDICT of accidental death was returned on Cadet Officer James Renton (24), of the RAF station, Cottesmore, who died after his trainer aircraft crashed near Bourne. Renton's home address was Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. PC Baron said that the Prentice aircraft that Renton had been flying the previous Wednesday crashed in a wheat field. Cecil Frederick Smith, farmer, of Twenty Drove, said he saw the aircraft at only 50 feet. It was spinning slowly to the ground, which it hit at an angle of 45 degrees. He found the pilot slumped in the cockpit. and Mr. Smith loosened his collar and tie and went for an ambulance. He returned to the plane an he feared fire. Renton appeared to he conscious, but said nothing."

The reported crash location of Kirkby Underwood is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 4 miles (6 km) north from Bourne and 1 mile (1.6 km) west from the main A15 trunk road at approximate co ordinates 52.833°N 0.408°W

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.114 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.142
4. 7 FTS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 30/6/1952: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2155 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101865
5. Leicester Evening Mail Leicestershire, England 4 June 1951: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003330/19510604/107/0007
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VS
7. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photolists/%40MAR_11_18.pdf
8. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1951
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkby_Underwood

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Jan-2021 03:05	Dr. John Smith	Added
25-Jan-2021 10:00	Glog	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
29-Jan-2021 22:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Feb-2021 00:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]