Date:	Wednesday 5 December 1956
Time:
Type:	Hawker Hunter F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	247 (China British) Sqn RAF
Registration:	XE660
MSN:	HABL/003003
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wivelrod, Bentworth, 2.5 miles east of Alton, Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Odiham, Basingstoke, Hampshire (ODH/EGVO)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hawker Hunter F.4 XE660: Built by Hawker Aircraft at Blackpool. Delivered to the RAF at 5 MU RAF Kemble 18/5/1955. Sold RAF operational service was with 247 Squadron, RAF Odiham, Hampshire coded "H".

Written off (destroyed) 5 December 1956. Broke formation in cloud at 4,000 feet and dived into the ground two-and-a-half miles east of Alton, Hampshire. The pilot did not eject and was killed.

A Hawker Hunter from No.247 Squadron at RAF Odiham smashed into the ground in a field at Wivelrod, near Alton, on the 5th December 1956. The pilot, Flying Officer John P.T. O'Mahony, died in the impact. He had been briefed to fly as No.2 in a pair formation during a high level tactical formation and cine exercise. Satisfactory radio checks were made during the taxi out and a normal formation take off followed. The leader checked that the position of his No.2 was correct immediately after becoming airborne, and one minute after take off a low rate turn to port was commenced.

The leader straightened out after the turn, informing O'Mahony of his action, and they both entered cloud at approximately 2,000 feet. Upon emerging from the top of the clouds, at around 4,000 feet, the leader noticed that XE660 was no longer with him and he commenced a series of banks to allow him to search for his stray companion. He spotted the other Hunter on the fringe of the cloud tops, 1,000 feet below him and apparently inverted...witnesses on the ground later saw the aircraft emerge from the clouds and crash.

Flying Officer John Plunkett Terrance O'Mahony, was a General Duties pilot with over 222 hours experience as first pilot, of which 64 hours was logged in the Hawker Hunter. However, his experience had been gained in a period of just over three years, and his records showed that he was not considered to be a 'natural' pilot, and was rated as 'low average' due to what seemed to be slow reactions.

Despite the fact that the servicing records for XE660 showed that it had an extended history of lateral trim difficulty upon engaging manual aileron control, O'Mahony was found to be responsible for the accident because he lost his No.1 in cloud, and then lost control on reverting to instruments. The observations of the Court of Inquiry are interesting...

The Court of Inquiry found that the only logical reason for the pilot failing to either pull out or jump out is that the time available between breaking cloud and striking the ground was too short - even for a pilot with quick reactions. The Court felt very strongly that a system which puts a pilot, of Flying Officer O'MAHONY's limited experience and with slow reactions, into a front line fighter squadron should be examined to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident.

A Squadron Commander is loath to take official action when no obvious fault can be found with a pilot's flying ability other than he is "somewhat slow". A remark so often used to describe this type of pilot is, "he is bound to kill him sometime, it is just a matter of when".

The reported crash location of Wivelrod is a hamlet in the large civil parish of Bentworth in Hampshire, England. The nearest town is Alton, about 2.8 miles (4.5 km) to the east. At a spot height of 712 feet (217 m), it is one of the highest settlements in Hampshire.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.184 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.224
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/376: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424497
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/35/S2856: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578636
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6105.0
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XE
9. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wivelrod

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Mar-2012 08:36	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Aug-2012 08:18	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
03-Feb-2020 22:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
04-Feb-2020 17:23	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
15-Jul-2020 22:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
16-Jul-2020 20:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
06-Aug-2021 10:00	SF	Updated [Time, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
10-Aug-2021 09:07	TB	Updated [Location, Operator]