ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205580
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| Date: | Sunday 6 June 1937 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Tipsy S.2 |
| Owner/operator: | Tipsy Light Aircraft |
| Registration: | G-AEWJ |
| MSN: | 103 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Northwood Lane, Broadstairs, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Ramsgate Airport, Ramsgate, Kent (X2RT) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
First registered [C of R 7769] on 23.3.37 as G-AEWJ. However, the aircraft record card states "Marks not taken up, marks not allocated".
Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed 6.6.37 while in a turn a low level at Broadstairs, Kent. A contemporary local newspaper report gives further details ("Thanet Advertiser" - Tuesday 8 June 1937)
"Trapped in Cockpit of Wrecked 'Plane
Thanet Pilot's Crash at Broadstairs
A young Margate business man, whose home is at Birchington, was not content to fly in other people's aeroplanes. He wanted one all to himself. A demonstration machine was brought to Ramsgate Airport last week-end and the prospective purchaser flew it without mishap on Sunday morning. He went up again on Sunday afternoon, but had not been long in the air when the machine crashed and was wrecked in a potato field at Broadstairs.
The pilot was dragged from the cockpit suffering from a fracture of the left thigh and facial injuries and was taken Ramsgate General Hospital in the ambulance.
The would-be owner was Mr. Derek George Duval, aged 28, of Fiori, Ethelbert-road, Birchington, who carries on business in Margate. The machine, a single-seater monoplane belonging to a Croydon aircraft manufacturing company, was fitted with a ten-horse power engine. It was brought to Ramsgate Airport by a representative of the company and its distinctive green colouring was noticed by many people when Mr. Duval was seen flying round the district on Sunday morning.
Crashed Near Road.
Mr. Duval again took the machine up about two o'clock in the afternoon, and had only been in the air a short time when he crashed, in a potato field to the north of Northwood-lane and only a short distance from the roadway. The nose of the machine was partially buried in the ground and the pilot was trapped in the cockpit.
Mr. James Groombridge, who lives at Tabernacle-cottages, was first on the scene but was unable to move Mr. Duval because of his fractured thigh. With great presence of mind Mr. Groombridge secured a pair of pliers and cut away the petrol tank, which had been pierced. Had fire broken out the pilot must have been killed.
News of the accident was telephoned to Ramsgate police Station and Police- Sergt. R. Hicks accompanied the motor ambulance to the scene of the accident. By this time Mr. Duval had been extricated and after being treated for the fractured thigh and a suspected fracture of the ribs he was taken to hospital.
As the field in which the crash took place was in Broadstairs inquiries were continued by Broadstairs police officers.
Prompt First Aid.
Mr. Groombridge told a representative of the Advertiser & Echo: "I was walking from Northwood towards home at about two o'clock on Sunday afternoon and noticed a small green plane fly across Northwood-lane in the direction of the landing field. I thought it was going to land but it suddenly rose again and came back. When it again reached Northwood-lane it was only a few yards from the ground. The plane then essayed a half circle, the pilot apparently intending to make towards the airport again, but the machine suddenly dived and buried its nose in the ploughed field. I rushed to the machine and attempted to assist the pilot out of the cockpit, but I could not move him as he had a fractured thigh. With the assistance of a lady I bathed his face injuries until the arrival of some men from the airport, who brought a stretcher and waited until the ambulance came."
This morning Mr. Duval's condition was stated to be satisfactory."
Registration never cancelled, as it was never taken up in the first place! There was a Court case some weeks later, as reported in the local press ("Thanet Advertiser" - Tuesday 5 October 1937):
"Technical Error
Monoplane Crash Sequel
Aircraft Manufacturers Fined
The crash in which a monoplane was involved near Ramsgate Airport on 6th June had a sequel at the Cinque Ports Police Court, at Margate, on Monday, when summonses concerning the airworthiness and registration of aircraft occupied the attention of the bench for the first time.
The owners of the machine. Brian Allen Aviation. Ltd., of Croydon Airport. were summoned for allowing the craft to be flown without a certificate of airworthiness and whilst unregistered, and the pilot, Thomas Edmund Wesson, of Manor Way, Parley, was summoned for flying the machine. The defendant company and Wesson pleaded guilty to the four summonses through the medium of their legal adviser, Mr. C. D. Brandreth.
The circumstances were outlined by Inspector Kitchingham, who stated that some time prior to 6th June the officer in charge of the Ramsgate Airport got in touch with the Brian Allen Aviation Company to send down a Tipsy Moth for a prospective purchaser. On the morning of 6th June the machine was flown to Thanet by Wesson, who was a pilot in the employ of the company, and subsequently the Moth was concerned in a crash, but at that time Wesson was not the pilot, nor had the accident anything whatever to do with him. Inquiries were made after the crash and the authorities discovered that the machine was not registered and had not received a certificate of airworthiness
Registration Letters Reserved.
Frank Frederick Henry, Air Ministry official, said that registration letters were reserved at the Ministry for the machine, but no application had since been made for them. With regard to machines in the category of the Moth they were placed in the ultra light class and certificates of airworthiness were not issued in respect to them. No test of airworthiness was made by the authorities. but a certificate for permission to fly had to be obtained, and this regulation had not been observed by the company on 6th June.
Replying to a magistrate witness stated that such permission was given by the Secretary of State, and the permission was usually given when proof had been forthcoming that the machine was insured against third party risk. That insurance was a condition of the permission. He agreed with Mr. Brandreth that permission would have been given had the application been made the machine as had been insured against third party risks.
Mr. Brandreth said at first sight the summons might take a grave appearance to the bench, for it would seem that every care should be taken with the construction of aircraft. He stressed the fact that the light machine belonged to a class which did not require a certificate airworthiness and said that decision had been arrived at by a Royal Commission following the popularity of light craft of the type of the the Flying Flea.”
An Oversight.
Hundreds of small machines were being privately manufactured in all parts of the country at the present time and the Commission appointed to go into the matter encouraged such production by the issue of a permit to fly, with third party insurance as a condition, instead of the usual rigorous examination for airworthiness for heavier machines which were examined whilst under construction.
When the monoplane was under construction registration letters had been reserved and. fact, had been painted on the
machine, but through an oversight further application had not been made to the authorities for them. Wesson, he pointed out. was acting under his employer’s instructions, and naturally assumed that the necessary regulations had been complied with, and could hardly be held to blame.
He asked the Bench to deal with the summons as technical, but not serious, breaches, and said the company had never before obtained such a machine and. consequently, the circumstances were somewhat unusual.
As it was the first offence of that type that the bench had had to deal with the Chairman (Mr. J. A. Forde) said the magistrates were inclined to deal leniently with the defendants The summons against Wesson would be dismissed on payment of 8s. costs and the company would be fined £5 on each of the two summonses and pay £3 5s. 1d. costs".
Sources:
1. Report of accident: Thanet Advertiser - Tuesday 8 June 1937
2. Court Case: Thanet Advertiser - Tuesday 05 October 1937:
3. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AEWJ.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A10.html
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accb1939.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Feb-2018 19:32 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 04-Feb-2018 23:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator] |
| 16-Mar-2020 21:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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