Date:	Thursday 4 April 1946
Time:	night
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	19 SFTS RAF
Registration:	FX412
MSN:	14A-1715
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 2 miles off Theddlethorpe Beach, Crook Bank, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Noorduyn AT-16-ND 43-34829 (MSN 14A-1715). Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FX412. No 19 SFTS (Service Flying Training School), RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire May 1945.

Written off (destroyed) 4 April 1946 when crashed into the North Sea, 2 miles off the Theddlethorpe Beach, Crook Bank, Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire. The Harvard was on the final stages of a night cross-country navigation exercise, and had overshot his intended final landing point - RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

It seems that the pilot compounded the error by failing to implement the 'lost aircraft' procedure, due to the radio having failed. The Harvard kept on flying until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the North Sea, two miles off Theddlethorpe Beach, Crook Bank, Mablethorpe. The Pilot was killed.

The National Probate Calendar records that the died at Chapel Point, Chapel St. Leonards, Lincolnshire, which is nearer Skegness, and some 14 miles to the south-south east. Chapel Point, is 1 mile (1.6 km) north from the centre of the village of Chapel St. Leonards, a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 5 miles (8 km) north from the resort of Skegness and just north of Ingoldmells

Crew of Harvard FX412
AC.2 (3036741) Arthur Henry DERGES (u/t pilot) RAFVR: killed in active service 4-4-46, body recovered (washed ashore?) and buried at C. of E. Sec. B. Grave 2407, Newton Abbot Cemetery, Newton Abbot, Teignbridge District, Devon, England

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.37 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.117
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988 p 109)
4. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2441878/ARTHUR%20HENRY%20DERGES/
6. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1945-49-incident-logs#1946
7. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=11738
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130026600/arthur-henry-derges
9. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.97: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
10. http://www.raf-lincolnshire.info/theddlethorpe/theddlethorpe.htm
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theddlethorpe_St_Helen
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_St_Leonards

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Jul-2021 23:28	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Jul-2021 08:41	Glock G19	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]