Date:	Tuesday 23 March 1948
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T Mk 2B
Owner/operator:	1 PRFU RAF
Registration:	FX271
MSN:	14A-1574
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire

Narrative:
Ex-USAAF 43-34688 (MSN 14A-1574) Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FX271. To No 19 Service Flying Training School May 1945. To No 2 (Pilot) Refresher Flying Unit August 1947. To No 1 (Pilot) Refresher Flying Unit (1 PRFU), RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire March 1948.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 23 March 1948: the aircraft was being flown by Flying Officer Peter Crowden-Longstreath, and took off from RAF Finningley for an air test following maintenance. Just as the aircraft became airborne, the engine cut, and the pilot was compelled to make an immediate 'straight ahead' forced landing. In order to facilitate an immediate stop, the pilot also retracted the undercarriage, and made a wheels-up landing near the end of the runway at Finningley.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry deemed the cause of the accident to be the main fuel line to the engine being twisted when it was re-fitted, which seriously restricted the fuel supply to the engine.

Wreckage used for the production of an accident prevention film. Finally struck off charge 8 February 1949

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.383
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988)
4. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
5. 1 (P)RFU RAF ORB for 1-8-1947 to 31-12-1948: National Archives (PRO Kew): File AIR27/1682/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162791
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Finningley#Post_Second_World_War

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