Date:	Saturday 27 June 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Sea Hawk F.1
Owner/operator:	A&AEE Boscombe Down
Registration:	WF149
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Boscombe Down, Wiltshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Destination airport:	Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hawker Sea Hawk F.Mk.1 WF149, A&AEE Boscombe Down: Delivered 31/08/1952; written off 27/06/1953. Crashed at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, during Gun firing trials. The aircraft took off normally, and made a climbing turn to port, and then straightened out. At about 250 feet agl, the port wing was seen to fold up, and the aircraft rolled to port, then continued to fly in a straight line, before diving into the ground behind the Officer's Mess at Boscombe Down.

Extensive damage to buildings and property on the ground was caused by the crash, and one person on the ground - Aircraftswoman B Lodge - was injured. The cause of the wing folding up in flight was attributed to a defective securing bolt, which sheared under stress loading.

Pilot of Sea Hawk WF149
Squadron Leader D. W. Colquhoun, 'A' Squadron A&AEE Test Pilot - killed in service 27/6/1953

Struck off charge 02/02/1954

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.146 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 382-383
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 37)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/158: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424279
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2639: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578485
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
7. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/421013-boscombe-down-flight-test-accident-1953-a.html
8. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=225
9. https://fr.wikiredia.com/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Hawk

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Mar-2013 23:26	Dr. John Smith	Added
19-Oct-2014 17:26	Kraus	Updated [Operator]
02-Jan-2020 23:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
02-May-2021 22:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]