Date:	22-APR-1955
Time:	day
Type:	Percival Provost T Mk 1
Owner/operator:	CFS Royal Air Force (CFS RAF)
Registration:	WV570
MSN:	PAC/56/116
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	1.5 miles ENE of Kemble, Gloucestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Percival Provost T.Mk.1 WV570, (Central Flying School), RAF: Written off 22/4/1955 during an aerobatic sortie from Little Rissington, the student pilot pulled out of a dive harshly, and the instructor blacked out due to the "g" forces invoked. On recovery from the dive, the aircraft was diving steeply, and the student pilot said that he could get no response from the controls.

At this point the starboard wing failed, then detached, and the aircraft began to spin rapidly. The instructor then abandoned the aircraft with some difficulty, and parachuted safely to earth. He ordered the pupil pilot to do the same. However, despite releasing his harness and deploying his parachute, the student pilot was unable to leave the aircraft, and was killed on impact with the ground. The Provost crashed one and a half miles east north east of Kemble, Gloucestershire.

Crew of Provost WV570:
Flight Lieutenant James Anderson Thompson (QFI Instructor Pilot, aged 38) - bailed out, survived
Flying Officer Peter Robert Moulden (Pupil Pilot Under Instruction, aged 22) - killed on active service 22/4/55 as per the above

James Thomson stayed in the RAF, retiring on 18th December 1957 as a Squadron Leader, retaining the rank of Wing Commander. He died on 30th October 2001, aged 84, and is buried in St. Mary the Virgin churchyard, Ewelme, Oxfordshire

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.170 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 102)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.129
4. RAF Little Rissington: The Central Flying School 1946-76 p.313 By R. Deacon, A. Pollock, M. Thomas, R. Bagshaw
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/269: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424390
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/33/S2750: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578530
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WV
8. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
9. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/ThomsonJA.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Mar-2013 16:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
20-Nov-2018 15:58	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
15-Jan-2020 19:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Jan-2020 22:29	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
12-May-2020 19:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2020 19:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Narrative]
12-May-2020 21:54	Boile A.	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]