Date:	Saturday 28 August 1971
Time:	12:15 LT
Type:	Piper PA-19 Super Cub
Owner/operator:	Lasham Gliding Society
Registration:	G-AYPN
MSN:	18-1600
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Ditcham Woods, 4 miles from Petersfield, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Illegal Flight
Departure airport:	Lasham, Hampshire (QLA/EGHL)
Destination airport:	Lasham, Hampshire (QLA/EGHL)
Investigating agency:	AIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Piper PA-19 Super Cub G-AYPN: Written off (destroyed) 28/8/1971 when crashed at Ditcham Woods, 4 miles from Petersfield, Hampshire. Both persons on board killed. The wreckage was not found until 31/10/1971, over two months later

The aircraft was on a private local flight from Lasham aerodrome. Piper PA-19 G-AYPN was normally used at Lasham Airfield as a glider tug, and there are allegations that it was taken without permission, quote:

"Stuart Bentine took off from Lasham on 28/8/71 in the tug PA.19, G-AYPN without notifying anyone and no-one noticed the plane was missing until it was required days later. The plane was discovered on 31/10/71 when leaves starting falling from the forest at Ditcham Wood near Petersfield".

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Glasgow Herald" 1 November 1971) the two had taken off to view the Round-the-Isle-of-Wight Powerboat race. After take off it completed a circuit before flying away in a southerly direction. It was two days before it was realised that the aircraft had failed to return from this flight and had not landed elsewhere. A walker discovered the wreckage by chance in Queen Elizabeth and Ditcham Wood, around 4 miles from Petersfield, on 31 October 1971. The aircraft had crashed in an almost vertical attitude in a dense beech wood on a sloping hillside and had remained substantially intact from the back of the cabin to the tail. There had been no fire, and the badly decomposed bodies of the occupants were still strapped in to their seats. The two fatalities were Mr. A.J. Slade (pilot, aged 25) and Stuart "Gus" Bentine (passenger and photographer)

The AIB report notes ""Both occupants still in seats (tandem seats) Slade in front and Bentine behind. Both strapped in full harness. Bodies decomposed. Casual dress no helmets. Harness attachments pulled by excessive forward deceleration permitting bodies to move forward. Harness in good condition and not broken. Rear tubular anchorage broken...Front occupant (Slade) wrist watch stopped at 7 o'clock. Dual control and stick fitted in rear cockpit. Camera and Lloyds cheque book (Bentine) found in rear cockpit.".

The fact that the watch stopped at 7 o'clock is misleading: that was NOT the time of the crash, which could have happened several hours earlier. 7 o'clock was simply the time the watch stopped because the owner had not re-wound it.

The AIB report concludes that the pilot, flying low in turbulent conditions and poor visibility, was forced to enter cloud to avoid overhead power cables and that he became unable to control the aircraft in cloud, because it lacked blind flying instruments. The report notes that the delays in recognising the aircraft's disappearance and in discovering the wreckage stemmed from the circumstances that the accident was not heard or seen by anyone and that the aircraft's movements were not logged at the point of departure. The search and rescue authorities were thus hindered by a lack of reliable information about the activities of the aircraft or the pilot's intentions. Technical examination of the wreckage revealed a fatigue crack in the cabin heat exchanger but the evidence was insufficient to indicate whether or not toxic fumes were present in the aircraft cabin.

The passenger of this aircraft, who was killed, was Stuart "Gus" Bentine, eldest son of the famous comedian Michael Bentine. Bentine's subsequent investigation into regulations governing private airfields resulted in his writing a report for the Special Branch of the British police into the use of personal aircraft in smuggling operations. He fictionalised much of the material in his novel 'Lords of the Levels'.

According to some sources, the aircraft crashed into woodland, and was obscured from view by the density of the leaves on the trees. It was only when the aircraft was noticed as not having landed anywhere that a search was initiated, and the falling leaves revealed the crash site.

Registration G-AYPN cancelled by the CAA as "destroyed" 28/8/1971, although presumably retrospectively, as CAA records note that they were only notified on 24/5/1972

1. Birmingham Daily Post - Monday 1 November 1971
2. AAIB Final Report: http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/13-1972%20G-AYPN.pdf
3. CAA Registration: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AYPN.pdf
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bentine
5. https://www.key.aero/comment/1627910#comment-1627910
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT384/16: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11217198
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/740: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10904594
8. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/741: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10904595
9. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/742: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10904596
10. https://www.pprune.org/2483018-post12.html
11. Glasgow Herald for Nov 1 1971 at https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19711101&id=IOU9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dkgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3631,196604&hl=en
12. https://www.key.aero/comment/827171#comment-827171

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
29-Aug-2012 16:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Nov-2012 05:40	harro	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
10-Jun-2013 17:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
22-Feb-2020 21:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
22-Feb-2020 22:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
03-Oct-2020 23:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Nature, Source, Narrative, Accident report]