Date:	Tuesday 8 March 1949
Time:	12:15
Type:	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito T Mk III
Owner/operator:	204 AFS RAF
Registration:	RR298
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	School House, Huggate, 9 mi W of RAF stn Driffield, Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Driffield, East Yorkshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Mosquito RR298: Took off at 11:50 hrs for a Training flight. 08/03/1949.
This aircraft was being air tested with an instructor and a pupil pilot, 25 minutes after being in the air the aircraft was put into a dive and a loud bang was heard, after which the aircraft's controls ceased to respond. The instructor ordered his pilot to exit the aircraft and made his escape. Sadly, the pupil was unable to get out in time and soon after the aircraft crashed in the centre of Huggate village, damaging the village school. The headmaster's wife Mrs Gabriel Cass and her daughter Patricia, were injured. 
In press reports regarding the incident the aircraft was thought to have broken up in the air prior to impact with the ground. The main part of the aircraft landed close by on farmland and caught fire, this fire appears to have been the only one and houses nearby escaped. A propeller landed in the village church yard and reportedly cracked a gravestone in half. Pocklington, Driffield and Wetwang's fire engines were called to put out the fire. 
Crew: 
P.IV (3046060) Michael Brenton BIRKS (pupil pilot) RAF: killed
F/Lt (174145) Anthony Archibald SMAILES AFC (pilot instructor) RAF: Injured (fractured collar bone). 
His parachute opened 100-feet above the ground and he landed 200-yards from the crashed aircraft

Civilian Casualties:
Mrs Gabrielle Cass - Injured. Fractured arm.
Miss Patricia Cass (aged 11) - Injured. Slicing wound to thigh caused by falling jagged metal. Four children had just left the school after taking an exam.

A local poultry-farmer, Mr Fred Germaine, of Mere Farm, Huggate, was commended by Coroner H W Rennison for trying to save the life of Pilot-Officer Birks by dragging him clear of the crashed aircraft, and extinguishing the flames engulfing his flying suit, aided by his daughter Betty, a teacher at the school.

Additional: The following is a contemporary local newspaper report ("Hull Daily Mail Tuesday 8 March 1949):
"PLANE CRASH IN FIELD NEAR WOLDS VILLAGE
Mrs Harry Elvidge, of the Wolds Inn, Huggate, told the Hull Daily Mail that the pilot must have dived his aircraft into the field after it got out of control, rather than risk crashing among the houses. The pilot was ready to bail out in plenty of time, the second airman told the villagers, and by crashing his machine outside the village he had forfeited his chance of doing so.
"We heard a tremendous bang," Mrs Elvidge told a reporter, and all rang outside to see the fire and smoke at the other end of the village. In the sky a white parachute was floating down. While the men ran towards the crash I ran indoors and telephoned Pocklington police."

Mr Elvidge described how oil and petrol were sprayed onto the stackyard and outbuildings of Mr H Smith's nearby farm, starting a small fire in one of the stacks".

Mr Harry Elvidge landlord of the Wolds Inn, Huggate, who was driving through the village at the time of the crash with Mr W Paul, of Lincoln, as passenger, had a narrow escape. The roof of his car was set alight by blazing paraffin as one aircraft crashed. He managed to drive clear and extinguish the flames with sand and dry soil".

1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.484
3.ORB 204 AFS RAF: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/1989: 4.https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101699
5.National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/29/W2444: 6.http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578290
7.http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/rr298.html
8.https://www.driffield.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4547
9.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169276467/michael-benton-birks

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Feb-2010 10:23	NePa	Added
29-Jul-2012 12:57	Nepa	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
13-Jun-2014 12:23	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
06-Jan-2015 21:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
13-Jan-2015 17:56	Iwosh	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, ]
14-Apr-2015 17:41	Jixon	Updated [Location, Narrative, ]
26-Jul-2015 10:25	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, ]
02-May-2019 20:22	Nepa	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator, ]
20-May-2019 07:58	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
20-May-2019 07:59	Anon.	Updated [Location, Source, Operator, ]
13-Nov-2019 20:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative, ]
18-Nov-2019 15:58	Nepa	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Operator, ]
18-Nov-2019 15:59	Nepa	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
03-Dec-2019 19:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
24-Dec-2019 19:27	stehlik49	Updated [Location, Source, Operator, ]
27-Dec-2020 11:54	Anon.	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, ]
02-Feb-2021 18:25	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
04-Apr-2021 10:37	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
04-Apr-2021 10:38	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
05-Jul-2021 09:50	Next	Updated [Time, Source, Operator, ]
22-May-2022 12:02	RAeS Member	Updated [Time, Narrative, ]