Date:	Tuesday 23 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	21 FTS RAF
Registration:	FS745
MSN:	14A-885
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	nr St.Giles Church, Exhall, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Snitterfield, Warwickshire
Destination airport:	RAF Snitterfield, Warwickshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Noorduyn AT-16-ND Ex-USAAF 43-12586 (MSN 14A-885). Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FS745. To No 21 Flying Training School, Snitterfield, Warwickshire April 1945.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 23 April 1946: Pilot William Petch's Harvard FS745 of 21 SFTS spun into ground, in a field next to St Giles Church, Exhall, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, during firing practice. It was his first solo flight. According to Colin Cummings book "Final Landings":

"The pilot was carrying out an air-to-ground camera gun sortie" [From RAF Snitterfield, Warwickshire] "against a range target. He turned the aircraft into the 'attack pass' position from too close a distance, and in tightening the turn, in order to align the aircraft with the target, the aircraft stalled, and spun into the ground". The pilot was killed

Crew of Harvard FS745:
AC.2 (3041342) William Edley PETCH (pilot u/t aged 20) RAF - killed in service 23-4-46. His burial/ commemoration details are on Screen Wall. Panel 4. at Hull Crematorium, United Kingdom

There is also a memorial plaque on the wall of St Giles Church, Exhall, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, close to where the aircraft crashed, and the pilot lost his life. No. 21 Flying Training School (21 FTS) flying the Harvard moved to RAF Snitterfield on 3 April 1945 and was based there until 18 September 1946. The National probate calendar officially records the place of death as "Born in Sculcoates, Yorkshire, England in Jun 1926 to Gilbert Edley PETCH and Bertha WILLINGHAM. William Edley Petch passed away on 23 April 1946 in Alcester, Warwickshire, England".

Exhall is a village and civil parish about 11⁄4 miles (2 km) south-south-east of Alcester in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Its parish includes the hamlet of Little Britain and part of Ardens Grafton, the greater part of which is in the neighbouring civil parish of Temple Grafton. It should not be confused with the "other" Exhall, near Coventry.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.39 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.128
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988)
4. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.98: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21873-460423-Unaccounted-Airmen-23-04-1946&highlight=PETCH&p=127715#post127715
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172476932/william-edley-petch
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2402232/WILLIAM%20EDLEY%20PETCH/
9. https://billiongraves.com/grave/William-Edley-Petch/44050890
10. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/crashes1946-49.htm
11. https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/william-edley-petch-24-989h9p
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhall,_Stratford-on-Avon
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Snitterfield#Posted_units

Aircraftman 2nd Class Pilot W E Petch RAFVR © David Austin (WMR-82871)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jul-2021 08:44	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Jul-2021 09:47	HB	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
13-Jul-2021 08:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
01-Jul-2023 15:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Source, Narrative]]