Date:	Tuesday 18 January 1949
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	62 GCF RAF
Registration:	NF857
MSN:	6728
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1 mile North of Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Colerne, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no. 6728: Taken on charge as NF857 at 18 MU 30.4.44. Reportedly damaged on delivery to Royal Navy 31.10.45 and remained in storage. To 62 Group Communications Flight, RAF Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire 22.4.48.

Written off when crashed into high ground 1 mile North of Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire 18.1.49; the aircraft was returning to base (RAF Colerne) in conditions of poor weather and limited visibility. The pilot failed to adhere to the pre-briefed instructions as to how to proceed when flying in such conditions, and also failed to maintain an adequate altitude above ground level (agl) while flying on instruments. The pilot was killed.

Crew of Dominie NF857:
Flight Lieutenant Yosef Horek, RAF (pilot aged 33, Polish National) - killed on active service 18.1.49: buried at Whitworth Road Cemetery, Swindon, Wiltshire, England


Struck off charge 19.1.49 and wreckage retrieved by (and to) 49 MU RAF Colerne for scrapping.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.464
3. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89-dragon-rapide-chipping-sodbury-1-killed
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p067.html
6. http://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138043758/josef-horak
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipping_Sodbury

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-May-2012 14:36	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Aug-2012 02:20	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
21-Feb-2019 14:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
12-Mar-2019 21:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]