Date:	Friday 31 July 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Prentice T Mk I
Owner/operator:	3 FTS RAF
Registration:	VS259
MSN:	5800/19
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Nordelph, 5 miles SW of Downham Market, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Prentice T.Mk.1 VS259, 3 FTS, RAF Feltwell: delivered 2/7/1948. Written off (destroyed) 31/7/1953 when the aircraft stalled in a turn at an altitude of approximately 100 feet, and dived into the ground at Nordelph, Norfolk. The pilot (flying solo) was killed

Crew of Pentice VS259:
Acting Pilot Officer (4058120) Gerald Stuart HOGG (pilot) RAF- killed in service 31/7/1953

The pilot's promotion from Cadet Pilot to Acting Pilot Officer was posthumous. As noted in the London Gazette of 1/9/1953 [see link #5]:

"[Promotion] As Acting Pilot Officers on probation (four years) on the active list and four years on the reserve: —
Cadet Pilot Gerald Stuart HOGG (4058120) effective from 27th May 1953 (period of service to count from 11th Feb. 1953) (since deceased)."

This meant that his promotion was not only posthumous, but backdated to a date before his fatal accident. It also meant that his headstone could be engraved with the rank of 'Pilot Officer'.

The reported crash location of Nordelph is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, five miles south west of Downham Market, and approximately 17 miles north west of RAF Feltwell.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.148 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 397
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1983)
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VS
5. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39951/supplement/4698/data.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordelph

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-May-2021 18:28	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-May-2021 19:42	MiG17	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
07-May-2021 14:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]