Date:	Thursday 23 April 1931
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	24 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K1838
MSN:	1588
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Seahurst Park, near Chichester, West Sussex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Northolt, Ruislip, Middlesex

Narrative:
c/no. 1588 DH.60M [Gipsy I]: Taken on charge by the Royal Air Force as K1838 on 12.11.30 by 24 Squadron, RAF Northolt. Destroyed when struck by Armstrong Whitworth Siskin J8893 of 43 Squadron over Bury Hill, spun in and crashed at Seahurst Park, near Chichester, West Sussex 24.4.31; Air Vice Marshal Felton Vesey Holt CMG, DSO, RAF (AOC Fighting Area) and Flt Lt Henry Michael Moody killed. Siskin J8893 landed safely, and Sergeant Charles George Wareham, the pilot and sole occupant of the Siskin, was not injured.

Holt was flying in the DH Moth: "On 23 April 1931 Moody was acting as pilot to Air Vice-Marshal Felton Vesey Holt, the Air Officer Commanding, Fighting Area, Air Defence of Great Britain. Moody, Holt, and Holt's ADC Lieutenant E. H. Bellairs had flown to RAF Tangmere in two de Havilland DH.60 Moth biplanes belonging to No. 24 (Communication) Squadron, based at RAF Northolt, on a tour of inspection. On leaving Tangmere, Bellairs took off first, followed by Moody and Holt.

After six minutes, at an altitude of about 1,500-foot (460 m) the Siskins of No. 43 (Fighter) Squadron, were preparing to land, and saw Bellairs' aircraft. Mistaking him for their commander, and not seeing Moody's aircraft, they dived in salute, and the aircraft of Sergeant Charles George Wareham and Moody clipped wings. Moody's Moth went into a spin, which he corrected, but then went into a dive which he was too low to escape from. Holt attempted to escape using his parachute, but was too low for it to deploy fully, while Moody remained in the aircraft until it crashed in thick woods near Selhurst Park, Sussex. Moody and Holt were both killed instantly.

Sergeant Wareham was uninjured and was able to land safely at Tangmere. An inquest returned a verdict of accidental death, and added that no blame attached to anyone in the squadron."

Henry Michael Moody and his brother Charles Angelo Moody are both commemorated on the war memorial at the church of St Michael & All Angels in Welshampton

1. The Glasgow Herald - April 24, 1931 page 11: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=df09AAAAIBAJ&sjid=T0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4044,8144829&dq=air+accident&hl=en
2. Chichester Observer - Wednesday 29 April 1931
3. Illustrated London News - Saturday 02 May 1931
4. The K File - The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain)
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felton_Holt
6. http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Holt.htm
7. "Death of Air Vice-Marshal F. V. Holt". Flight. XXIII (1166): 389. 1 May 1931: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1931/1931%20-%200421.PDF [paywall]
8. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
9. http://www.worldnavalships.com/directory/aircrewprofile.php?AircrewID=11735
10. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
11. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17512-RAF-Fatalities-1931
12. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Holt-2015
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moody#Death
14. https://www.baaa-acro.com/city/tangmere-afb?page=2
15. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14963.0

Informal portrait of Lieutenant H. M. (Mike) Moody (left, smoking cigarette) and Captain (later Air Commodore) Raymond James Brownell, No. 45 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, 1918

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Jan-2015 20:42	Dr. John Smith	Added
11-Jan-2015 20:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
28-Aug-2017 17:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
28-Aug-2017 17:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
19-Apr-2018 19:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Oct-2018 06:00	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
18-Feb-2020 21:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
18-Feb-2020 21:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
28-Nov-2023 14:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]