Date:	Wednesday 23 July 1947
Time:	night
Type:	North American Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	7 FTS RAF
Registration:	FX259
MSN:	14A-1562
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Ex-USAAF 43-34676 (MSN 14A-1562) Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FX259. To 16 (Polish) Service Flying Training School, Newton, Nottinghamshire September 1944. To 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit November 1945. To 3 Service Flying Training School, South Cerney, Gloucestershire March 1946. To 7 Service Flying Training School October 1946.

Crashed on overshoot at night and destroyed by fire at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire 23 July 1947; the aircraft was returning to base (RAF Kirton-in-Lindsay) from a night cross country navigation sortie, and had overshot the approach. The Harvard then made a diving turn from 500 feet agl (above ground level) which tightened into a spiral dive, causing the aircraft to dive into the ground, and burst into flames on impact. The Belgian pilot was killed

Crew of Harvard FX259
Sgt (2790386) Jacques Arville Poliart (pilot) Royal Belgian Air Force - killed on active service 23-7-47

As there is no record of his burial in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Grave Commission) database, it is presumed that his body was repatriated to Belgium and his family for burial

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 Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.324
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988).
4. ORB 7 FTS RAF: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/1817: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101527
5. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
6. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1945-49-incident-logs#1947
7. https://www.northlincsweb.net/RAFElshamWolds/html/23rd_july_1946_-_7sfts_raf_kirton_in_lindsey_-_harvard_t2b_fx259.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._7_Flying_Training_School_RAF#Second_formation
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kirton_in_Lindsey#RAF_Fighter_Command_use

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-May-2023 08:55	Nepa	Updated
12-May-2023 18:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated