Date:	Tuesday 21 June 1955
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T Mk 11
Owner/operator:	5 FTS RAF
Registration:	XD424
MSN:	15293
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1/2 mile north of Church of St Mary Magdelen, Whipsnade, Bedfordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.Mk 11 XD424: Delivered 25/1/54. RAF Service career was with 205 AFS (Advanced Flying School) and 5 FTS, RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire

Written off when crashed and destroyed 21/6/55: the student recovered the aircraft from a practice spin, but the aircraft then flipped over into an inverted spin. The instructor was unable to recover the aircraft from this, and both crew bailed out. XD424 crashed at a location half a miles north of the Church of St Mary Magdelen, Whipsnade, Bedfordshire

Crew of Vampire T.11 XD424:
Flight Lieutenant W J Unwin RAF (Instructor Pilot, Service Number 115555, aged 32) - bailed out safely, parachuted to earth
Pilot Officer D A J Martin (Pupil Pilot Under Training, Service Number 2715199) - bailed out safely, parachuted to earth

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.171 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 15)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.140
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/252: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424373
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1955.htm
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH115%20prodn%20list.txt
7. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
8. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh115.pdf
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XD
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipsnade

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Mar-2013 18:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Mar-2013 11:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
25-Dec-2018 21:01	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
10-Jan-2020 11:31	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
22-May-2020 17:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
22-May-2020 20:40	MIG29	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]