ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 174669
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| Date: | Sunday 19 April 1998 |
| Time: | c. 15:03 LT |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Roger Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes |
| Registration: | G-BALX |
| MSN: | 82103 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Aircraft missing |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Enroute from Dieppe, France, to Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Dieppe Airport (DPE/LFAB) |
| Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, Kent (EGKH) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 82103 (Gipsy Major #81031); Taken on charge as N6848 at 10 MU RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire 26.5.39. To 34 E&RFTS RAF Rochford, Southend-on-Sesa, Essex 31.7.39. To 1 EFTS RAF Hatfield, Hertfordshire 15.10.39. To 28 EFTS RAF Pendeford, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire 21.11.41, later coded "FJJ-W". To 25 RFS RAF Pendeford, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire 26.6.47; operated by Durham UAS (University Air Squadron). To 23 RFS RAF Usworth, Sunderland, County Durham 2.5.49 retained by Durham UAS coded "RUD-A". To 12 RFS RAF Filton, Brsiol, Gloucestershire 31.3.51. To 5 RFS RAF Castle Bromwich. Warwickshire 30.6.51 coded “R-13”. To 9 MU RAF Cosford, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire 21.2.52 for long-term storage pending disposal.
Struck off charge when sold 4.11.53 to W A Rollason Ltd, Croydon. Stored/refurbished Fairoaks [11.66] for proposed sale to USA. UK civil registered as G-BALX (CofR R13231/1) 10.1.73 to John Burningham, Kingston Hill. Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey (aircraft based at Fairoaks, Chobham, Surrey). C of A issued 13.2.73 and painted in RAF colours as N6848. Registration cancelled and re-registered (G-BALX/R2) 19.4.77 to Christopher Peter Beresford Horsley & Richard Guy Anniss, (both nominally of Dubai, UAE, later from 2.9.81- Bahrein; aircraft remained based at Fairoaks). Fitted with Gipsy Major #80840 [1979]. Owners address changed 14.6.84 to Arabian Aircraft Corporation, c/o 16-17 Queens Road, Brighton, Sussex. However, owners remained based in Bahrein, and the aircraft remained based at Fairoaks.
Sold 14.6.84; registration cancelled and re-registered (C of R G-BALX/R3) 1.7.85 to Roger Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, London W1; operated as Toad Air from Spilsted Farm, Sedlescombe. Damaged when overturned on landing Sedlescombe 30.8.85 @ 17:50; According to the AAIB Report (see link #3):
"At the end of the landing run on a grass airstrip, the aircraft nosed over. The pilot reports that he caried out a "wheeler" landing, and blieves that he carried out excessive force on the control column during the landing run. Damage to airframe: Damage to propellor, engine cowling and both right mainplanes"
Airframe repaired at Shawdene, returned to service, and later based at Headcorn. Flown to Moscow by Fiennes 1989. Re-registered (C of R G-BALX/R4) 21.4.93 to (Fiennes company) Aviation Heritage Ltd, St. Helier, Jersey (based Headcorn; also at Great Pagehurst Farm, Staplehurst, Kent). Re-registered (C of R G-BALX/R5) 21.8.95 to Stuart Cranfield, St Leonards & Roger Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, London W1 (based Headcorn). Re-registered (C of R G-BALX/R6) 16.5.96 to Stuart Cranfield, St. Leonards [only]
Written off when missing between Dieppe, France, and Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, Kent, on 19.4.98. Aircraft presumed crashed into the English Channel, and pilot presumed killed. However, no trace of the pilot - named in contemporary reports as Roger Fiennes - or any wreckage was ever found. According to the following extract from the official AAIB report into the incident:
"The pilot flew from Lashenden (Headcorn), UK, to Dieppe, France, on Sunday 19 April 1998, a trip that he had flown many times before. He filed a flight plan for the intended flight which indicated a direct routing and at 10:10 hours, he refuelled the aircraft with 49 litres of fuel (10·8 Imperial gallons). He took off at 10:50 hours and landed at Dieppe at 12:04 hours.
Whilst on the ground at Dieppe he filed a flight plan for the return flight, by telephone, with Lille Air Traffic Control Centre; the ATC tower at Dieppe was closed. The aircraft was seen to take off at approximately 14:40 hours and at 14:42 hours a radio call was received by Paris North, the local Flight Information Service (FIS), from a pilot using the correct call sign.
After establishing contact the pilot transmitted "G-BALX EN ROUTE FROM DIEPPE TO HEADCORN, OFF THE FRENCH COAST, HEADING 350, VFR AND ESTIMATING MID-CHANNEL AT 17"; mid-channel marks the boundary between the Paris Flight Information Region (FIR) and the London FIR.
The pilot did not pass an airborne time nor did he request that his flight plan be activated. The reply from Paris FIS was "PARIS INFORMATION DO NOT PROVIDE TRAFFIC INFORMATION ONLY GENERAL INFORMATION ON REQUEST, YOU CAN MAINTAIN THIS FREQUENCY". The pilot acknowledged this transmission. There was no further radio, radar or visual contact with the aircraft which was subsequently reported missing.
Allowing for a cruising speed of 80 mph and assuming a transit altitude of 1,500 feet, which is the altitude that the pilot entered on both flight plans, the total flight time for the return trip would have been 54 minutes on a heading of 344, having allowed for the effect of the wind. Assuming a take off time from Dieppe of 14:40 hours this would have produced a time at the boundary between the Paris FIR and the London FIR (mid channel) of 15:03 hours".
As the aircraft was posted as "missing" and no trace of it was ever found, the registration G-BALX was cancelled by the CAA on 27.7.98
How the Tiger Moth was reported as overdue is not mentioned in the AAIB report. However one deduces that it must have been some time after his ETA (which would have been around mid-afternoon on 19 April) as SAR (search and rescue) procedures were not put into effect until the morning of 21 April.
No trace was ever found of either the aircraft or its pilot and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the loss of G-BALX led to unconfirmed reports that the pilot had "Done a Lord Lucan" - that is, faked/staged his disappearence and the aircraft had flown to Poland. To this day there is still no definite evidence as to the fate of this aircraft and its pilot.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB Bulletin No: 9/98 Ref: EW/C98/4/5 Category: 1.3 : https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ebfce5274a13170000cf/dft_avsafety_pdf_502449.pdf
2. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-BALX.pdf
3. AAIB Report Ref Accident 30.8.85: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f60940f0b61346000613/DH_82A_Tiger_Moth_G-BALX_10-85.pdf
4. http://thesteepletimes.com/opulence-splendour/a-gipsy-flies/
5. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/306885-tiger-moth-disappearance.html
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p821.html
7. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showpost.php?s=d5781bbc772915c3189c0d7d37ec85d4&p=83938&postcount=9
8. https://www.key.aero/comment/305085#comment-305085
9. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17449.0
10. Tiger Moth G-BALX various photos 1973-1988: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/code-number/N6848?f=&sort=date_taken_formatted&order=asc
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes_family
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Mar-2015 03:11 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 19-Mar-2015 03:12 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
| 19-Mar-2015 03:13 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location] |
| 18-Nov-2020 18:01 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
| 23-Jan-2022 15:54 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Category] |
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