Date:	Saturday 16 November 1963
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10
Owner/operator:	1 AEF RAF
Registration:	WD304
MSN:	C1/0246
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Thames Estuary, off Margate, 5 miles NW of Manston, Kent. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent (MSE/EGMH)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10, WD304, 1 AEF (Air Experience Flight), RAF: Crashed and destroyed 16/11/1963. The pilot carried out unauthorised aerobatics and mock attacks on two other aircraft. He lost control and the aircraft dived into the Thames Estuary, off Margate, five miles north-west of Manston, Kent. The pilot and cadet both drowned in the cockpit. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Birmingham Daily Post" - Saturday 30 November 1963)

"Crashed plane lifted
The Chipmunk training aircraft which crashed off Margate two weeks ago, killing an R.A.F. officer and an air cadet, was lifted from the sea yesterday with the two bodies inside."

Crew of Chipmunk WD304:
Flying Officer Ronald Charles WACE, RAFVR (pilot, Service Number 2602253, aged 42) - killed on active service 16/11/1963 as per the above, cremated at Beckenham Crematorium, Elmers End, Kent
Cadet Michael Shepherd ATC (passenger, aged 14 - killed as per the above, but the body was never found or recovered.

There is a passage about the above incident in the book "A Detailed History of RAF Manston 1945-1999" by Joe Bamford. The key points are:

1) That the wreckage of the aircraft was not recovered for almost two weeks (until 29/11/1963) by the recovery vessel "Airmoor" which took the wreckage to Ramsgate Harbour
2) That the pilot may have suffered a "medical episode" which caused the crash (there is a reference by the pathologist who examined the pilot's body, that the pilot have have suffered a "cerebral haemorrhage")
3) The wreckage was recovered one mile off North Foreland, Kent, with only the body of the pilot on board - indicating that the wreckage drifted with the tides and currents in the two weeks between the crash and the recovery.
4) The ATC Cadet Passenger was not in the aircraft when it was recovered, and as stated above, his body was never found

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 210 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 23)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.382
4. Thanet Times - Tuesday 3 December 1963 and Tuesday 14 January 1964
5. East Kent Times and Mail - Wednesday 11 December 1963
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1963.htm
7. https://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/412255-raf-chipmunks.html
8. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13407.0 ..
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WD

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jun-2008 04:28	JINX	Added
11-Nov-2011 12:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Oct-2013 20:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Nov-2018 15:27	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
14-Feb-2020 17:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Feb-2020 17:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
15-Feb-2020 00:15	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
18-Feb-2020 23:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source]
18-Feb-2020 23:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source]
18-Jul-2020 19:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
18-Jul-2020 20:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
18-Jul-2020 20:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]