Miles Master Mk.III W8455 forced landed at Lyme Green, Macclesfield on the 14th May 1942 while with No.3 Aircraft Delivery Flight
| B T Tatham | Pilot Officer | Pilot | Uninjured |
The aircraft was being used for delivering spares to an unrecorded destination, No.3 A.D. Flt being based at Hawarden, when the pilot became lost in bad weather and decided to force land the aircraft when he ran low on fuel. He landed the aircraft in a field at Lyme Green, reported locally to be close to the Macclesfield Canal, but did not have sufficient space to stop and the aircraft ran into a hedge causing minor damage.
As the Court of Inquiry decided that P/O Tatham was solely responsible for the damage to one of their aircraft, through not having an up to date weather report and not turning back on encountering the bad weather he was punished by the removal of 6 months seniority. Despite this he went on to serve until December 1954. It also may be of interest that this was not his first forced landing in a Miles Master, while in flying training at No.5 F.T.S. he forced landed N7696 at Thurgoland near Penistone when he was on a cross country flight.
The aircraft, W8455, was later involved in another more serious accident at King Sterndale near Buxton when the aircraft was written off.
