Date:	Tuesday 21 April 1942
Time:	night
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	22 EFTS RAF
Registration:	DE242
MSN:	85288
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Caxton Gibbet RLG, Ermine Street, Cambridgeshire, -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Caxton Gibbet RLG, Ermine Street, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Caxton Gibbet RLG, Ermine Street, Cambridgeshire

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 85288; Taken on charge as DE242 at 39 MU RAF Colerne, Wiltshire 2.1.42. To 22 EFTS RAF Teversham, Cambridge 9.1.42.

Written off (destroyed) when lost control whilst turning at night, crashed and destroyed by fire near RAF Caxton Gibbet RLG, Ermine Street, Cambridgeshire, 21.4.42; pilot stalled and crashed while taking off on his first ever night solo flight. Pilot killed.

Crew of Tiger Moth DE242:
Leading Aircraftman SYED MUNSOOR ALI MIRZA, RAF VR (Service Number 1230879, Pilot Under Training) - killed on active service 21.4.42.

Struck off charge 27.4.42 as FACE (Flying Accident Cat.E).

Caxton Gibbet is a small knoll on Ermine Street (now the A1198) in England, running between London and Huntingdon, near its crossing with the road (now the A428) between St Neots and Cambridge. The place name is derived from a gallows, used for executions, which stood in the area between the 1670s and the 1830s. The location gave its name to an RAF Relief Landing Ground, operated between summer 1940 and 9 July 1945, in the field to the east of Ermine Street. It was used by Tiger Moths of the 22 Elementary Flight Training School (Cambridge) and huts there were used to house personnel from 105 Squadron at RAF Bourn

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1987 p.10)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR81/13569: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17206206
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/21/W1223: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6577436
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2929589/syed-munsoor-ali-mirza/
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p852.html
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=114542
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?5486-420421-Unaccounted-airmen-21-4-1942&highlight=SYED%20MUNSOOR%20ALI%20MIRZA&p=31174#post31174
9. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/RoyalAirForce/CountyAirfields.html
10. http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/caxton-gibbet/
11. http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/CaxtonGibbetflyingsites
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxton_Gibbet
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Reserve_flying_schools

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Mar-2022 01:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
23-Mar-2022 01:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase, Source, Narrative]
23-Mar-2022 01:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport]
23-Mar-2022 01:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
23-Mar-2022 22:44	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
24-Mar-2022 17:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]