Date:	Sunday 12 October 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Auster AOP.6
Owner/operator:	LAS RAF
Registration:	WJ361
MSN:	3747
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Middle Winterslow, 6 miles SSW of Middle Wallop Airfield, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Middle Winterslow, Hampshire
Destination airport:	RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire (EGVP)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Taylorcraft Auster AOP.6 WJ361, LAS (Light Aircraft School) RAF: Written off (Damaged beyond repair) when crashed on take off from a field at Middle Winterslow, six miles south south-west of Middle Wallop, Stockbridge, Hampshire on 12/10/1952.

The Instructor Pilot was demonstrating a "forced landing without power" technique, but realized that, during the manouevre, he was undershooting the selected landing spot. Despite this he continued with the "power off" approach, as part of the training of the Pupil Pilot. He then applied power to begin the recovery. However, the engine did not "pick up" power in time, and the aircraft continued to descend until it made a safe landing in a field at Middle Winterslow.

The pilot then attempted to take off from the selected landing field; however, the aircraft's wheels clipped the top of a fence during the take off run, the aircraft then force landed again, the wheels dug into the soft earth, and the Auster overturned.

Although the aircraft was wrecked, neither of the crew (QFI Instructor Pilot and Pupil Pilot under Training) sustained any serious injuries. It is notable that Auster AOP.V TW454 - also of the LAS (Light Aircraft School) RAF - crashed on 29/9/1952 (just two weeks earlier) in very similar circumstances, and in a field just half-a-mile from AusterWJ361 came down.

Winterslow is a civil parish with a population of around 2,000, about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, and lying south of the A30 London Road. It is sited on the Roman road between Old Sarum and Winchester. Settlements in the parish are the villages of West Winterslow and Middle Winterslow, and the hamlets of East Winterslow and The Common.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.135 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.301
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WJ
5. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
6. http://austerhg.org/prod_list/pages.php?page=4320

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
13-Jun-2008 14:46	JINX	Updated
03-Feb-2020 10:47	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
25-Mar-2021 18:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source]
25-Mar-2021 23:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Mar-2021 16:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
12-May-2021 08:42	gerard	Updated [Operator, Nature, Departure airport, Operator]