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Date: | Saturday 19 May 1990 |
Time: | 16:45 LT |
Type: | de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth |
Owner/operator: | Structure Flex Ltd |
Registration: | G-AOZB |
MSN: | 3917 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Other fatalities: | 3 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Category: | Accident |
Location: | Gatton Bottom, near Reigate, Surrey -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Initial climb |
Nature: | Private |
Departure airport: | Redhill Aerodrome, Nutfield, Redhill, Surrey (EGKR) |
Destination airport: | |
Investigating agency: | AAIB |
Confidence Rating: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Narrative:de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth MSN 3917 (Gipsy Major #80860); Taken on ccharge as N6616 at 5 MU RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire 2.3.39. To 42 E&RFTS Squires Gate, Blackpool, Lancashire 27.7.39. To 12 EFTS RAF Prestwick, Ayrshire 15.10.39. To 13 EFTS RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire 12.12.39; to RAF Westwood, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire 12.40. To 21 EFTS RAF Booker, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire 1.6.41. Crashed 12.3.43 (presumed at RAF Booker); to Lundy & Atlantic Coast for repairs 17.3.43. Returned to 5 MU RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire 20.4.43 upon completion of repairs. To 20 MU RAF Aston Down, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire 22.1.44. To 663 (AOP) Squadron RAF Hooton Park, Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire 12.1.50 coded "ROC-Z". To 9 MU RAF Cosford, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire 6.10.53 for long-term storage pending disposal.
Struck off charge when sold 10.5.54 to R A Peacock [Aviation] Ltd, Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey [delivered prior to 11.4.54]. UK civil registered as G-AOZB (C of R R5828/1) on 9.1.57 to Norman Herbert Jones, Claygate, Surrey (aircraft based at Croydon). Overhauled by Rollasons and C of A issued 13.5.57. Registration cancelled 17.5.58 and re-registered (C of R R5828/2) on 4.6.58 to Michael Herbert Reid, Coopers Farm, Wadhurst. Registration cancelled and re-registered (C of R G-AOZB/3) on 15.2.80 to Henry Douglas Labouchere, Langham, Norfolk. Registration cancelled 19.6.80 and re-registered (C of R G-AOZB/R4) on 27.6.80 to Structure Flex Ltd (Joe Frankel), Redhill, Surrey.
Destroyed 19.5.90 in collision over M25 motorway near Redhill, Surrey, with Piper PA-28 G-BNNP, killing all 4 occupants (one in Tiger Moth G-AOZB, and 3 on board Piper G-BNNP). Collision was 1.3 km east of Junction 8 of the M25, with the Tiger Moth crashing into a field at Gatton Bottom, near Reigate, on the north side of the M25. The Piper PA-28 impacted into a school playing field close to the south side of the M25
A contemporary local newspaper report covered the inquest into the deaths of the four people involved, and names the two pilots ("Staffordshire Sentinel - Tuesday 2 October 1990):
"PIPER PILOT DID NOT SEE OTHER 'PLANE
A FORMER North Staffordshire pilot who died in a mystery plane crash was on a training course at the time, an inquest heard.
lan Derricot was one of four people killed when his Piper Cherokee plunged to the ground after colliding with a Tiger Moth near Reigate in Surrey last May. It is not known whether Mr Derricott, 33, was piloting the Cherokee at the time of the crash, in which there were no survivors. The inquest heard Mr Derricott was on an instrument training course and was wearing a special visor. His friend, Miss Christine Brewin said: "He would not have seen anything outside the aeroplane at all."
It is not known whether the pilot of the Tiger Moth, Mr David Frankel, 31, of Thames Ditton, was wearing his glasses at the time of the crash. The inquest heard both planes had blind spots and their colouring may have contributed to the disaster. The Piper was sky coloured and the Tiger Moth green.
A jury returned a verdict of accidental death on all four of the dead men.
Mr Derricott, a former pupil at Westwood High School, Leek, moved to London several years ago with his job. His parents, Ray and Pam Derricott, live in Wilton Avenue. Werrington."
Gatton Bottom is a road following a dry valley/dene from Reigate Hill to the near the top of Old Merstham and is known as one of three access roads from the south side to the Junction 8 interchange of the M25, the others being Wray Lane (one-way) and Reigate Hill. This area still marks the border between the steep downs' rise to its north and the rise then fall of Gatton Park to its south.
Re-registered 22.2.91 to David Lionel Frankel, Esher, Surrey. Registration G-AOZB formally cancelled by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as "aircraft destroyed" on 20.10.94
Accident investigation:
|
| |
Investigating agency: | AAIB |
Report number: | |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | |
Download report: | Final report |
|
Sources:
1. Sunday Independent (Dublin) - Sunday 20 May 1990
2. Sunday Life - Sunday 20 May 1990
3. Staffordshire Sentinel - Monday 21 May 1990
4. Newcastle Journal - Monday 21 May 1990
5. Kingston Informer - Friday 25 May 1990
6. Staffordshire Sentinel - Tuesday 02 October 1990
7. AAIB Final Report:
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/de-havilland-dh82a-tiger-moth-g-aozb-and-piper-pa-28-181-g-bnnp-19-may-1990 8.
https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AOZB.pdf 9.
https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf 10.
http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p039.html 11.
https://www.planespotters.net/photo/344826/g-aozb-private-de-havilland-dh82a-tiger-moth 12.
https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/G-AOZB 13.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton,_Surrey#Gatton_Bottom Media:
Tiger Moth G-AOZB at the Croydon Airport Air Show 30 May 1988:
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
17-May-2008 11:10 |
ASN archive |
Added |
08-May-2009 03:51 |
Anon. |
Updated |
02-Feb-2012 05:46 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
02-Feb-2012 18:03 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
08-Oct-2012 15:35 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
05-Nov-2019 17:59 |
Anon. |
Updated [Other fatalities, Narrative] |
23-Mar-2020 23:34 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
18-Jan-2022 22:30 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
20-Jan-2022 17:45 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Category] |
17-Jul-2022 21:36 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Embed code] |