Date:	Friday 16 October 1953
Time:	night
Type:	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10
Owner/operator:	RAF College Cranwell
Registration:	WP858
MSN:	C1/0743
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Boothby Pagnell, 2 miles South East of Spitalgate, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Spitalgate, Grantham, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Spitalgate, Grantham, Lincolnshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 WP858: Delivered 23/9/52. Sole RAF career was with the RAF College at Cranwell, Lincolnshire

Written off (destroyed) 16/10/53 when flew into the ground at night at Boothby Pagnell, two miles South-East of Spitalgate, Lincolnshire. The aircraft flew a normal circuit, until approximately half-way around the downwind leg of the final approach to RAF Spitalgate, Grantham, Lincolnshire. At this point, the aircraft began to lose altitude, before making a left-hand turn, and dived into the ground. The pilot (flying a night solo sortie) was killed

Crew of Chipmunk WP858:
Flight Cadet Reginald Alfred STEVENS, RAF (pilot, aged 19) - killed in service 16/10/1953

The reported crash location of Boothby Pagnell is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population is now included in the civil parish of Bitchfield and Bassingthorpe at approximate coordinates 52.866770°N 0.558159°W.

NOTE: Several published sources give the date of the crash as 16/10/1955 not 16/10/1953, and the pilot's name as "Strevens" not "Stevens"

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.151 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 84)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.421
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WP
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boothby_Pagnell
6. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1953

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Nov-2011 09:31	Dr. John Smith	Added
31-May-2020 19:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
19-May-2021 17:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Location, Source, Narrative]
19-May-2021 17:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]