Date:	Friday 22 August 1947
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Southampton UAS RAF
Registration:	T6026
MSN:	84174
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Five Lanes End, Little Torrington, Torridge, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Eastleigh, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland Tiger Moth MSN 84174: Taken on charge as T6026 nominally at 15 MU, RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 5.2.41. However, placed into long term storage in ‘purgatory’ at Rockley Farm, Cumnor; returned to Morris Motors, Cowley, Oxford for erection 30.8.41. To RAF Drem 11.9.41. To RAF Speke 23.5.42. Crashed 6.11.43; to Taylorcraft at Rearsby, Leicestershire for repairs 16.11.43. To 21 EFTS Booker 12.1.44 after completion of repairs.

To 9 MU RAF Cosford 26.7.45. To 3 EFTS RAF Shellingford 7.1.46. To Oxford UAS, Abingdon 14.1.46. To 22 EFTS Cambridge 12.2.46, still with Oxford UAS. Back to 3 EFTS RAF Shellingford 1.9.46. To 8 EFTS RAF Woodley, Berkshire, 1.6.47. To 8 RFS Woodley 12.6.47; still with Oxford UAS; coded "RUO-D". Later operated by Southampton UAS.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 22.8.47 when crashed into a tree and cartwheeled during forced landing practice at Five Lanes End, Little Torrington, Torrington, Devon. The aircraft was undertaking an authorised forced landing practice sortie. During the approach to the selected landing field, the pilot realised that he would undershoot the selected field, and therefore, he applied power to gain altitude and overshoot. The engine failed to 'pick up' and apply power, and the aircraft struck a tree and cartwheeled into a field.

Wreckage recovered and transported to RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon 26.9.47; to 8 MU RAF Little Rissington 30.10.47 for survey. Not repaired; Struck off charge as Cat. E (Scrap) when sold 8.4.48 to Coventry [Civil] Aviation Ltd, Baginton, for possible rebuild as a civilian Tiger Moth. Not civilianised and broken up for spares and scrap. Remains to R J Coleys scrapyard, Hounslow, Middlesex [by 1954].

Little Torrington is a village and a civil parish near Great Torrington, in the Torridge district, north Devon, England.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft NA100-NL999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.315
4. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p841.html
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=%20T6026
7. Southampton UAS RAF ORB 1-1-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2564: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505202
8. Tiger Moth T6026 as "RUO-D" of Oxford UAS 1947: http://www.aviationbanter.com/attachment.php?s=cbedeb0829ec0e666617ffff1f12031b&attachmentid=62023&d=1356528487
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Torrington

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Sep-2021 21:11	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Sep-2021 08:32	Angel dick one five	Updated [Operator, Operator]
09-Sep-2021 16:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location]
10-May-2023 20:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location]]