Date:	Monday 30 March 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Airspeed Oxford Mk I
Owner/operator:	10 AFTS RAF
Registration:	BG271
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Woodbridge Farm, Guarlford, 2 miles E of Great Malvern, Worcestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Pershore, Throckmorton, Worcestershire
Destination airport:	RAF Long Marston, Warwickshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Airspeed Oxford Mk.I, BG271, 10 AFTS (Advanced Flying Training School), RAF: Delivered to 10 AFTS Long Marston on 27 June 1952. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 30 March 1953 when crashed at Woodbridge Farm, Guarlford, 2 miles East of Great Malvern, Worcestershire.

On 30 March 1953, the pilot was undertaking a sortie from RAF Pershore, Throckmorton, Worcestershire. The sortie involved flying at 2,000 feet, while carrying out asymmetric (single engined) flying. During this sortie, the pilot lost control of the aircraft, which then flicked into a steep spin, followed by a spiral into the ground at Great Malvern, Worcestershire. The airplane was destroyed and the pilot (flying solo) was killed.

According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Worcester News" 4th April 2003 in its "50 Years Ago" feature - see link #6):

"TRAGIC PLANE CRASH
TRAGICALLY, a young pilot based at RAF Pershore was killed in a plane crash near Malvern at this time 50 years ago.

The Worcester Journal of 1953 reported: "Acting Pilot Officer Douglas Cyril Lewin of Shoreham, Sussex, was killed when the plane he was piloting solo on a training flight from Pershore crashed in a field at Guarlford.

"The twin-engined Oxford aircraft was seen by an observer to be circling before suddenly tipping up and coming straight to the ground. Mr Edward Lane of Woodbridge Farm, Guarlford, on whose land the plane crashed, told a reporter that he first notice the aircraft going slightly sideways in a blustering wind and, when he looked again, it had turned right over on its back.

One of the two engines had stopped and there appeared to be a wisp of smoke coming from it. The plane dived into a field in which there were seven cattle and two horses. Acting Pilot Officer Lewin was 19 years old and had been in the RAF for nine months."

Crew of Oxford BG271:

Pilot Officer Douglas Cyril LEWIN, RAF (pilot, aged 19) - killed in service 30/3/1953

The reported crash location of Guarlford is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills district in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is situated between the settlements of Barnards Green and Rhydd approximately three kilometres (two miles) east of Great Malvern, the town centre of Malvern.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.142 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 355
3. The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 2001 p.130)
4. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/crashes1950-88.htm
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as10-oxford-t1-great-malvern-1-killed
6. https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/7649237.tragic-plane-crash/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarlford

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
23-Jul-2017 16:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative]
15-Feb-2018 19:46	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
21-Apr-2021 19:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
23-Aug-2021 18:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Category]