On 25th January 1949 the pilot of this aircraft took off from the 612 Squadron airfield at Dyce to ferry it to Honiley so the aircraft could be transferred to 63 Group Conversion Flight. He took off in the early afternoon and landed at Acklington to refuel, by this time the weather had made a turn for the worse but he took off again and headed south. The visibility was too bad for him to have been allowed to take off from Acklington but he was not stopped from taking off so continued on his way. When he approached the Dishforth area he was lost, and flying on instruments he contacted Dishforth ATC for barings to land there, they attempted to give him barings but gave him incorrect information. After Dishforth ATC had vectored him across their airfield several times he still had not landed and his fuel was running low, Dishforth ATC ordered him to bale out. He landed near Thimbleby in a tree and his aircraft crashed between Nether Silton and Over Silton at 18.10hrs. The aircraft was destroyed whilst the pilot was uninjured and was taken in by Mrs Howden of North Farm, Thimbleby. Blame on the crash was cast a number of ways, the pilot should not have taken off from Acklington because of the bad weather. Acklington's Flying Controlling Officer was also to blame for allowing him to take off. Dishforth's ATC was also blamed partly for giving incorrect barings.
Harvard KF666 was built as a 'lend-lease' aircraft by Noorduyn Aviation at Cartierville, Montreal, Canada and was delivered to the RAF in April 1945. After a period of storage it was issued to 612 Squadron which reformed at Dyce on 10th May 1946. It was transferred to 63 Group Communications Flight on 25th January 1949 but written off on that day whilst being flown to them, Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded.
Pilot - PII Miroslaw Cempel RAF (703822 or P/703899). Uninjured.
Miroslaw Cempel was born in Zoludek, Poland on 2nd February 1922 and as a young man in Poland spent time in Siberia. He later arrived in the UK and served with 315 Squadron from August 1944 until the end of the War. He had destroyed one enemy aircraft in the UK, that of one Fw190 in February 1945. He was awarded the Polish medal; the CV and Bar. After the War he transferred to the RAF and after spending five years in RAF service. He crashed Harvard KF666 at Nether Silton on 25th January 1949 with 612 Squadron and on 26th April 1951 he belly landed 19 Squadron Meteor EE598 at Church Fenton airfield. He was granted British citizenship in July 1953 and later moved to Canada and again served in the RCAF in Canada for five years. He died on 6th March 2010 in Montreal, Canada.
I have not yet located the place where this aircraft came down but it is on private farm land.