Date:	26-JUL-1954
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Provost T Mk 1
Owner/operator:	6 FTS Royal Air Force (6 FTS RAF)
Registration:	WV603
MSN:	PAC/56/130
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	1.5 miles west of RAF Tern Hill, Shopshire, England. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Provost T.Mk.1 WV603: Delivered 23/6/54. RAF service was with 6 FTS, RAF Tern Hill only.

Written off (destroyed) when crashed 26/7/1954: The aircraft was being flown as the number 3 in a formation of twelve aircraft (arranged in three 'boxes' of four). During a turn, the pilot lost his position, then collided with the number 4 aircraft in the formation, Provost T.1 WV483 (also of 6 FTS). The tail of WV603 broke off, and the Provost dived into the ground one-and-a-half-miles West of Tern Hill, Shropshire. Both crew of Provost WV603 were killed.

Crew of Provost WV603:
Flight Lieutenant Harry Bridle RAF (QFI Instructor Pilot, Service Number 1339250, aged 32)
Acting Pilot Officer Gordon Syer (Student Pilot, Service Number 4147544, aged 20)

Flight Lieutenant Harry Bridle was buried at Munhead Cemetery. He was born 13/5/1922 at Swindon, Wiltshire. He had only been promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 27/3/54, four months (to the day) earlier

Acting Pilot Officer Gordon Syer was promoted to Pilot Officer, with the promotion being posthumuously confirmed 13/8/54, three weeks after his death in the above accident (see link #8). As the promotion was retrospective to 31/3/54, the rank of "Pilot Officer" was inscribed on his gravestone at St Peters Churchyard, Stoke upon Tern, Shropshire.(see link #7).

The other aircraft involved - Percival Provost WV483 - landed safely, became Ground Instructional Airframe 7693M on 7/9/1960, was sold in October 1971 and is still extant in the USA in 2012.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.161 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.102)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.77
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WV
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?3670-Shropshire-s-casualties-and-aircraft-crashes&highlight=BELL&p=20652#post20652
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39966/supplement/5049/data.pdf
7. https://www.militaryimages.net/media/gordon-syer.122758/
8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40255/supplement/4743/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Nov-2011 20:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Cn, Source]
06-Mar-2013 17:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Narrative]
13-Dec-2018 18:57	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Nature, Operator]
16-Apr-2020 22:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative]
17-Apr-2020 10:19	AlLach	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator]