Date:	Tuesday 25 January 1949
Time:	18:10 LT
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T Mk 2B
Owner/operator:	612 (County of Aberdeen) Sqn RAF
Registration:	KF666
MSN:	14A-1867
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Nether Silton, 6 miles east of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	RAF Dyce, Aberdeen, Scotland
Destination airport:	RAF Honiley, Wroxall, Warwickshire

Narrative:
On 25th January 1949 the pilot of this aircraft took off from the 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron airfield at RAF Dyce, Aberdeen to ferry it to RAF Honiley so the aircraft could be transferred to 63 Group Conversion Flight. He took off in the early afternoon and landed at Acklington to refuel, by this time the weather had made a turn for the worse but he took off again and headed south. The visibility was too bad for him to have been allowed to take off from Acklington but he was not stopped from taking off, and so continued on his way.

When he approached the Dishforth area he was lost, and flying on instruments, he contacted Dishforth ATC (Air Traffic Control) for bearings to land there, they attempted to give him bearings but gave him incorrect information. After Dishforth ATC had vectored him across their airfield several times, he still had not landed and his fuel was running low, Dishforth ATC ordered him to bail out. He landed by parachute near Thimbleby in a tree, and his aircraft crashed between Nether Silton and Over Silton at 18:10 hours. The aircraft was destroyed whilst the pilot was uninjured and was taken in by Mrs Howden of North Farm, Thimbleby.

Blame on the crash was cast a number of ways, the pilot should not have taken off from Acklington because of the bad weather. Acklington's Flying Controlling Officer was also to blame for allowing him to take off. Dishforth's ATC was also blamed partly for giving incorrect bearings.

Harvard KF666 was built as a 'lend-lease' aircraft by Noorduyn Aviation at Cartierville, Montreal, Canada and was delivered to the RAF in April 1945. After a period of storage, it was issued to 612 Squadron as 'RAS-R' which reformed at Dyce on 10th May 1946. It was transferred to 63 Group Communications Flight on 25th January 1949 but written off on that day whilst being flown to them, Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded.
Crew:
PII (703822 or P/703899) Miroslaw CEMPEL (Pol.pilot) RAF: Ok

Miroslaw Cempel was born in Zoludek, Poland on 2nd February 1922 and as a young man in Poland spent time in Siberia. He later arrived in the UK and served with 315 Squadron from August 1944 until the end of the War. He had destroyed one enemy aircraft in the UK, that of one Fw190 in February 1945. He was awarded the Polish medal; the CV and Bar. After the War he transferred to the RAF and after spending five years in RAF service. He was granted British citizenship in July 1953 and later moved to Canada and again served in the RCAF in Canada for five years. He died on 6th March 2010 in Montreal, Canada.

Nether Silton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Northallerton, on the border of the North York Moors national park

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 468
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988)
4. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/46-50/kf666.html
5. https://listakrzystka.pl/en/cempel-miroslaw/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nether_Silton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Apr-2023 22:03	Dr. John Smith	Added