ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 206022
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| Date: | Sunday 24 July 1960 |
| Time: | 18:50 |
| Type: | BA Swallow 2 |
| Owner/operator: | Robin Ramsey Leigh Windus |
| Registration: | G-AFHS |
| MSN: | 490 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Nutfield Road, Merstham, Redhill, Surrey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Truleigh Manor, Edburton, West Sussex |
| Redhill Aerodrome, Redhill, Surrey (EGKR) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no. 490: First registered [C of R 8536] 29.6.38 as G-AFHS to John Heath, Findon, West Sussex (aircraft based at Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex). C of A 6327 issued 24.6.38.
Withdrawn from use and stored in West Sussex from 4.9.39 (when all private civilian flying was prohibited due to the outbreak of WW II) until at least 8.5.45 (VE-Day). G-AFHS appears to have been registered to the same owner for almost 18 years - until 15.5.56 when registration cancelled "due to change of ownership of aircraft"
Registration restored 13.6.56 [with new C of R R1393/2 and new C of A A1393] to Robin Ramsey Leigh Windus, Truleigh Manor, Edburton, West Sussex
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 24.7.60 when wrecked in a forced landing due to engine failure at Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey while on approach to Redhill Airport, Redhill, Surrey. (Which is 2.7 miles to the South) According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Daily Mirror" - Monday 25 July 1960):
"DEATH PLANE DIVES INTO GARDENS
A TWO-SEATER plane crashed in suburban front gardens yesterday - ten yards from houses where a baby was being bathed and two families were having tea.
The plane's passenger, Mr. Andrew Phillips, 40, a flying club instructor of Acton, was fatally injured. The pilot-owner, Mr. Robin Windus, 28, of Henfield, Sussex, had head injuries. But NOBODY in the road - Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey - was injured.
It was 6.50 p.m. when Mrs. Elizabeth Hall, bathing her two-year-old daughter in the kitchenette of her father's Nutfield-road home, said: "If that plane comes any lower it will crash." Seconds later, the plane DID crash. Mrs. Hall's father, Mr. Edwin Thompson. said: "We rushed out to find part of the wreckage in our front garden. Two men were lying on our path among the debris."
Next door. Mr. George Howitt and his friend. Mr. Jim Helyer, were sitting down to tea with their families. They saw the plane miss a house across the road, tear away a telephone wire, pivot on one wing on a lawn and come to rest partly on Mr. Howitt's garage drive. Mr. Howitt and Mr. Helyer, both St. John Ambulance first aid men, ran out and pulled the two fliers from the wreckage."
Registration G-AFHS cancelled 16.3.61 as "destroyed". The pilot and owner Robin R.L Windus survived this incident, and lived for a further 57 years before dying on 17 February 2018, aged 85
Sources:
1. Daily Mirror - Monday 25 July 1960
2. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-gb-registers-g-af
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AFHS.pdf
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A10.html
5. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1153002
6. https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=81328
7. https://ukga.com/airfield/truleigh-manor
8. https://aflyinghistory.com/search-aeroplane-photographs?query=G-AFHS
9. http://www.hdekker.info/Nieuwe%20map/1960.htm#09.05.1960
10. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14992.0
11. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/BK_BAMco.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Feb-2018 23:58 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 27-Feb-2020 22:07 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Feb-2020 22:16 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Jul-2020 16:07 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
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