Date:	Wednesday 8 April 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10
Owner/operator:	18 RFS RAF
Registration:	WB656
MSN:	C1/0095
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Peasmarsh, near Shalford, Surrey, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Fairoaks, Chobham, Woking, Surrey (EGTF)
Destination airport:	RAF Fairoaks, Chobham, Woking, Surrey (EGTF)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10, WB656, 18 RFS (Reserve Flying School), RAF Fairoaks: delivered 14/7/1950. Written off (destroyed) 8/4/1953 in a flying accident at Peasmarsh, near Shalford, Surrey.

The aircraft was seen flying at an altitiude of between approximately 2,000 and 3,000 feet over Shalford, Surrey with the engine apparently misfiring. Foward airspeed was lost, and the aircraft entered a flat spin to the left, with intermittent bursts of engine power while spinning, with the aircraft descending all the time, until it struck the ground. The pilot (flying solo) was killed

Crew of Chipmunk WB656:
Cadet Pilot (2614586) Francis Patrick SMYTH (pilot) RAF - killed in service 8/4/1953

The reported crash location of Shalford is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England on the A281 Horsham road immediately south of Guildford. It has one named locality, occupying the west of the area, Peasmarsh.

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 359
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WB
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalford,_Surrey

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Jun-2008 16:47	JINX	Added
07-Jun-2008 22:05	JINX	Updated
25-Nov-2018 15:26	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
24-Apr-2021 00:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Apr-2021 00:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
24-Apr-2021 10:49	Koumes	Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Location, Narrative, Operator]
02-Sep-2021 01:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Category]
02-Sep-2021 15:29	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]