diff --git a/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx b/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
index 05635dac..21b01a72 100644
--- a/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
+++ b/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
@@ -1143,11 +1143,12 @@ HTTPRepository::failure() const
             directories.erase(it);
             Dir dir(d->absolutePath());
             bool result = dir.remove(true);
-            delete d;
 
             // update the hash cache too
             updatedFileContents(d->absolutePath(), std::string());
 
+            delete d;
+
             return result;
         }