Date:	Monday 4 May 1953
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	22 FTS RAF
Registration:	FX209
MSN:	14A-1512
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Farnsfield, 4 miles NW of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire
Destination airport:	RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Noorduyn AT-16-ND ex-USAAF 43-34626 (MSN 14A-1512) Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FX209. To No 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit, Errol, Perthshire, Scotland, September 1944. To No 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit, Ternhill, Shropshire, June 1945. To No 7 Service Flying Training School, Kinton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, April 1946. To No 22 Service Flying Training School, Ouston, County Durham, October 1947 coded "FCI-H". To No 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire February 1949. To No 2 Flying Training School, South Cereny, Gloucestershire, September 1950. To No 1 Flying Training School Oakington, Cambridgeshire, November 1950 coded "FCA-A". To No 22 Flying Training School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire April 1952 coded "R-P"

Written off (destroyed) when crashed at Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire 4 May 1953. The aircraft had took off from RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire for an IF (Instrument Flying) training sortie, when it was seen flying at low level just outside the authorised low level flying area for RAF Syerston.

The aircraft then went into a spin to the right, from which it did not recover, and the Harvard dived into the ground close to the village of Farnsfield, 4 miles North West of Southwell, Nottinghamshire. From the position of the wreckage (post crash), and the marks left on the ground by the impact, it was concluded that the aircraft had gone into a flat spin to the right. However it was never established by the RAF Board of Inquiry why control was lost. Both crew were killed.

According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Nottingham Journal" of May 7th 1953) which reported the following:

"Blown over by plane
A Farnsfield mother and daughter had a narrow escape on Monday afternoon when an R.A.F. aircraft from Syerston crashed at Farnsfield, near Newark. The pilot and his pupil were killed.

The woman, Mrs. June Pouditch, of Forest Farm, Farnsfield, told the Newark Deputy Coroner and a jury at the inquest that the plane crashed within 30 yards of her and her four year old daughter Carol. "The blast blew us to the ground," she said.

Verdicts of "Death by misadventure" were returned on 30 year old Flying Instructor Harold John Fuller, of the Officer's Married Quarters, Syreston, and a 23 year old pilot under instruction, Acting Sub-Lieut. Vincent Joseph Forrester, also stationed at Syerston, whose home is at Glasgow. Death was said to be instantaneous."

Crew of Harvard FX209:
Flight Lieutenant Harold John FULLER (QFI Instructor Pilot) RAF - killed in service 4/5/1953
Sub Lieutenant Vincent J. FORRESTER (Pupil Pilot Under Instruction, on assigment from HMS Fulmar, RNAS Lossiemouth) RN- killed in service 4/5/1953

Farnsfield is a large village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire in Sherwood Forest. It is in the local government district of Newark and Sherwood. Farnsfield lies in central Nottinghamshire, approximately 14 miles (22.5 km) north-east of Nottingham, 9 miles (14.1 km) east of Mansfield and 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Southwell.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.144 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 362
3. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988 p.104)
4. "Nottingham Journal" of May 7th 1953
5. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnsfield
7. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1953.htm
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?p=250148

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Jun-2018 17:29	A.J. Scholten	Updated [Cn, Phase]
25-Apr-2021 20:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Apr-2021 10:49	db	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
27-Apr-2021 00:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
16-Oct-2021 17:18	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Source, Category]