Date:	Sunday 31 August 2008
Time:	09:45 LT
Type:	De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Tiger Moth Drivers LLC
Registration:	N522R
MSN:	83999
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Skylark Airpark, Warehouse Point, East Windsor, Connecticut -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Skylark Airpark, East Windsor, CT (FAA LID:K7B6)
Destination airport:	Block Island State Airport, Block Island, Rhode Island (BID/KBID)
Confidence Rating:	Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth MSN 83999; Taken on charge as T7602 nominally at 15 MU RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire 16.11.40. However, placed into long-term storage in ‘purgatory’ at The Tun Room, Bicester, Oxfordshire; returned to Morris Motors, Cowley, Oxford [undated, but probably November 1941] for erection. To 45 MU Kinloss 25.11.41. Transferred to FAA RN (Fleet Air Arm Royal Navy) charge; to 782 Squadron, RNAS Donibristle 16.12.41. Damaged and to Taylorcraft, Rearsby, Leicestershire for repairs 9.10.42; to 38 MU RAF Llandow, Glamorgan 10.11.42 [and returned to RAF charge]. To 25 (P)EFTS, RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire 26.6.43 coded ‘83’, later ‘22’. To 12 MU RAF Kirkbride, Cumberland 14.12.45 for long-term storage pending disposal.

Struck of charge when transferred to Netherlands 23.8.46; despatched 26.8.46. Taken on charge by KLu (Royal Netherlands Air Force( as A-29 at Woensdrecht. Damaged in landing accident at Rilland-Bath, Zeeland, Nerherlands 23.3.48; to Fokker 26.5.48 for repairs/major inspection. Upon completion, to Woensdrecht 3.9.48. To MLD Valkenburg 30.6.54-14.10.54. To Gilze-Rijen AFB 21.12.54. To DVVM-2 for storage 7.10.60. Struck off charge by KLu 16.1.61.

Shipped to Dutch New Guinea 9.2.61; arrived 1.5.61. To 322 Squadron, KLu and reflown 18.8.61 as hack/glider-tug. Abandoned when Dutch left New Guinea 30.11.62. Struck off charge 4.1.63. Acquired by Aero Club Biak (formed by pilots from De Kroonduif) and regd JZ-ACB 2.63 to Aero Club Biak (a club formed by pilots with De Kroonduif, Dutch New Guinea airline who acquired Tiger Moths A-29 and A-4 (see N1300D) plus Kranich PH-99 – which became JZ-1. All sold for Dfl 700 on evacuation 1.5.63). Registration JZ-ACB cancelled 1.1.64 as "sold abroad".

Purchased in Dutch New Guinea by Major General Milton, Clark AFB, Philippines. Re-registered in the Philippines as PI-C586 26.7.63 to Clark Air Base Aero Club (C/o 405th Fighter Wing, USAF), Clark AFB, Philippines. Sold 15.12.64 to Clifford P Robertson, Van Nuys, CA (for $2,010). Registration PI-C586 cancelled 15.12.65 as 'sold'. Sold by Robertson 26.12.65 and re-registered in USA as N522R 16.2.66 to Robertson & Associates (Corporation), Beverley Hills, California. Experimental exhibition C of A issued 2.6.66. Sold 29.4.69 (for $9,495.25) and re-registered 23.5.69 to Clifford P (Cliff) Robertson, Los Angeles. Badly damaged in crash at Santa Susan, California 29.7.73; aircraft ground looped and then nosed over/overturned (see link #5 for NTSB report)

Rebuilt in 1973-75 and returned to service (aircraft based Santa Paula). Sold (at unknown date) back to Robertson & Associates; sold on 29.8.88 and re-registered 9.2.90 to Merlin Aire Ltd, Richard Tourangeau & Patricia Tourangeau, King City, California. Sold 27.3.91 and re-registered 14.12.92 to Tan Air Ltd (Len Tanner), Manchester, New Hampshire. Len Tanner died 1998 and aircraft stored 1988-2007. Sold 10.5.2007 and re-registered 21.11.2007 to Tiger Moth Drivers LLC (c/o trustee William T Kulle), Springfield, Mass (aircraft based at Skylark Airpark, East Windsor, CT). Owners were a a syndicate of three persons, including Charles Cohen). New non-expiring experimental CofA issued 19.6.2007.

Engine failed and crashed into trees on take-off Skylark Airpark, East Windsor, CT on 31.8.2008; pilot August Gorreck and passenger uninjured. According to a contemporary newspaper report into the incident (see link #6):

"EAST WINDSOR, Conn. --
Using a pulley system, crews rescued two people from a plane that crashed into trees in East Windsor on Sunday morning. A 1930s-era Tiger Moth airplane left the Skylark Airpark at about 9:45 a.m. Sunday, airport officials said.

Plane Crash Leaves Pair In Tree For Hours

The plane, which was headed east, lost its engine power and landed on top of a group of trees about 200-300 feet from runway 10.The pilot, August Gorreck, told Eyewitness News that the plane lost power soon after takeoff. He said that he and passenger, Susan Williams went plummeting before becoming precariously lodged in trees 50 feet above the ground.

"I had to fly it into the trees," Gorreck said. "I had to fly it into the crash so to speak. We got away with it."
At first, members of a local rescue task force thought a Coast Guard helicopter dispatched from Boston would be able to perform an aerial rescue. That plan was nixed over concerns that the powerful downdraft from the chopper's rotor would dislodge the plane from the trees before the crash victims could be rescued from the fuselage. A rescue effort from the ground through muddy, dense terrain got to the victims and helped them out of the aircraft.

"We strung some ropes through the trees with the stokes basket, they call it," said Chief James Burton of the Warehouse Point Fire Department. "We were able to lower the patients down to the ground and get them out of harm's way."

The plane remained in the trees on Sunday evening. Airport manager Michael Koczera said he expects that the plane will remain lodged in the trees until Tuesday when a crane will help remove it. Gorreck and Williams were not injured in the crash. They were freed from the plane just before 1 p.m".

Repaired and returned to service: as at 8.2019, Tiger Moth Drivers syndicate was apparently Billie Kulle, Augie Gorreck & Bob Welch). Currently registered to 30.4.2022

Note: the Tiger Moth is registered by FAA with former RAF serial T7602

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft T1000-V9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=20641
3. http://landewers.net/JZ.TXT
4. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=N522R
5. Crash of 29.7.73: NTSB Identification: LAX73DUQ04; https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/brief.aspx?ev_id=85653&key=0
6. http://web.archive.org/web/20080906172808/http://www.wfsb.com:80/news/17352574/detail.html
7. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p839.html
9. Tiger Moth N522R at Springfield/Chicopee, Massachusetts, USA (KCFF) 15.6.2008: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9281279
10. Tiger Moth N522R at Skylark Airpark, East Windsor, CT (FAA LID:K7B6) 24.8.2019: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1671425
11. https://www.regosearch.com/search/results/?page=1&offset=100&=&co=us&Nf2=model&Of2=eq&Vf2=TIGER+MOTH+DH+82A
12. https://onespotter.com/aircraft/fid/581333/N522R
13. https://www.regosearch.com/aircraft/us/522R
14. http://www.warbirdalley.com/archive.htm (August 2008)
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylark_Airpark

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-May-2010 00:53	RobertMB	Added
23-Jun-2010 21:23	pauldow	Updated [Date, Destination airport, Narrative]
06-Feb-2022 00:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
06-Feb-2022 01:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport]