Tiger Moth W7953 at Yeadon airfield.
On 3rd September 1941 the pilot of this 20 E.F.T.S. aircraft made a heavy landing at Yeadon and the aircraft was slightly damaged.
Pilot - LAC J Dale RAFVR (1030075).
This aircraft had a long history, it was built by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd. at Hatfield and was first registered as G-AFSR
on 22nd April 1939 to the Ipswich Aero Club but this registration was cancelled on 27th June 1939. The registration was taken up on 8th
July 1939 by the Thanet Aero Club based at Ramsgate. At the outbreak of WW2 the aircraft was placed in storage at Ramsgate where it was
impressed on 15th January 1940 and having been prepared for flight and it was then flown into storage at 20 MU at Aston Down. The civil
registration was cancelled on 23rd January 1940. On 17th February 1941 it was flown to Southern Aircraft Ltd. at Gatwick for a major inspection,
on 27th April 1941 it was ferried to 46 MU at Lossiemouth and then issued to 20 EFTS on 8th July 1941 at Yeadon. As a result of the mishap
at Yeadon on 3rd September 1941 Cat.A/FA was recorded and the aircraft was repaired on site and returned to the unit. On 28th January 1942 it
was transferred to 18 EFTS at Fairoaks where it remained until 14th January 1944 when the aircraft was transferred to 25 EFTS at Peterborough
and coded "-64". On 12th December 1945 it was placed into long term storage by 9 MU at Cosford and here it remained until 9th June 1949 when
it was taken on charge by 22 RFS at Cambridge, on 29th July 1949 it was transferred to 11 RFS at Scone and on 6th April 1950 it crashed
sustaining Cat.E2/FA damage when the aircraft collided with a tree on take off half mile east of Kinrossie, Perthshire; the pilot had become
lost and had made a successful forced landing in a field and crashed while taking off. The aircraft caught fire after the crash but the
pilot escaped. It was struck off charge on 19th June 1950.