Date:	Tuesday 3 July 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Bristol 171 Sycamore HC.10
Owner/operator:	A&AEE Boscombe Down
Registration:	WA578
MSN:	12889
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles North of Tidworth, Wiltshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Boscombe Down Wiltshire (EGDM)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Bristol Sycamore HC.10 WA578: Civil registration G-ALSU reserved (C of R 12802/1) to the Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd., Filton, Bristol. Pre-production Mk.3. Registration G-ALSU cancelled/not taken up as "transferred to RAF 7/11/50". To RAF for Army Cooperation as WA578. 1st military version.

One of three aircraft (WA576-WA578, and originally flew with civil registrations G-ALSS/ST/SU) ordered from the Bristol Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, to contract 6/Acft/2505. Became Sycamore HC.10 prototype, used by RAF for Army CASEVAC trials in Malaya in 1953-54 (see photo, link #8)

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 3/7/56: Suffered a sudden loss of power due to a fuel leak and force landed on rough ground two miles north of Tidworth, Wiltshire. The rotor blades struck the ground and the tail rotor was torn off when the aircraft rolled onto its port side. Both crew escaped safely.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.181 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 10)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.202
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 18/4187 (Sycamore Mk 10 WA.578 (Alvis Leonides LE 23 HM): performance and handling trials in Malaya 1/1/53 to 31/12/53): https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11198572
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. https://www.helis.com/database/cn/42198/
7. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALSU.pdf
8. WA578 at Kuala Lumpur 1953/4: https://www.na3t.org/air/photo/MIL00107
9. http://www.britishaviation-ptp.com/b/bristol_type171.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-May-2008 14:37	JINX	Added
09-May-2010 02:16	harro	Updated [Source]
06-Aug-2010 16:06	TB	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative]
28-Nov-2012 02:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
22-Jun-2020 17:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
22-Jun-2020 17:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]