Date:	Wednesday 30 January 1946
Time:	night
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	122 Sqn RAF
Registration:	DE919
MSN:	85790
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Earls Colne, Essex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Earls Colne, Essex
Destination airport:

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 85790: Taken on charge as DE919 nominally at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 5.12.42; however, stored locally in ‘purgatory' in the Oxford area. Returned to Morris Motors at Cowley, Oxford for erection 23.2.44. To 5 Glider Training School, RAF Shobdon 7.3.44. Crashed 31.3.44; to [unknown] for repairs; to 38 MU Llandow 23.4.44 after repairs completed. To 122 Squadron, RAF Earls Colne, Essex 6.5.45

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 30.1.46, when parked out on the airfield. The aircraft had been tied down with picket ropes in anticipation of approaching gales. However, when the gales struck, one of the ropes failed. The Tiger Moth broke loose, and was written off (damaged beyond repair) when it was overturned by the force of the gale. No fatalities or injuries, as the aircraft was unoccupied at the time.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.29 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.50
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 122 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-7-1945 to 28-2-46; National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/915-97: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8387308
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.94: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p857.html
7. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earls_Colne#Transport
9. https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Earls_Colne_Airfield

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2021 21:49	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Jun-2021 16:37	Norton	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
28-Aug-2021 00:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, Category]
28-Aug-2021 11:40	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]