Date:	Saturday 21 July 1934
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird
Owner/operator:	Shrikrishna Vaman Pantvaidya
Registration:	G-EBQP
MSN:	114
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hamble Airfield, Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Hamble, Hampshire (EGHM)
Destination airport:	Hamble, Hampshire (EGHM)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird c/n 114. Delivered in 1923 to the A&AEE at Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk as J7326 (last of a batch of seven aircraft). Used for experimental lifting aloft and releases from the Airship R-33 (G-FAAG) over Pulham, Norfolk on 15/10/25 (see link #8 for film footage)

First civil registered (C of A 1132) on 4/4/27 as G-EBQP to RAE Aero Club, Farnborough, Hampshire. Later re-registered to Flying Officer A.F. Scroggs.

Re-registered on 18/4/34 to Robert Henry Somerset (C of R 4982). Aircraft normally based at Plymouth, Devon. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 21/7/34 when stalled and crashed at Hamble, Hampshire. Pilot - Shrikrishna Vaman Pantvaidya (Indian national aged 26) - was killed. According to one source, he did not actually have a pilots licence, and, as such, should not have been flying this - or any other - aircraft. However, this claim is disputed. According to a contemporary newspaper report: ("Western Daily Press" - Monday 23 July 1934)

"INDIAN AIRMAN KILLED IN CRASH.
Coincidence of Young Pilot's Death.
Shirkrishna V. Pantvatdya (26), an Indian airman, was killed when a single-seater machine he was piloting crashed at Hamble, Hants, on Saturday, from a height of 2,000 feet.

He had held a pilot's "A" licence for two years and was undergoing a ground engineer's course.

By coincidence the body was taken to the home nearby of a friend, Mr S. B. Williams, where 18 months ago Pantvatdya was removed after a serious motor accident near the same spot. Mr S. B. Williams, of Arnwood, Hamble, told a 'Press and Mirror' reporter that when Pantvatdya went up he was still an out-patient at that hospital, after being in hospital for nearly nine months, and he was still wearing a splint.

"When he went up to-day," he added, "he had to take the splint off to enable him to fly the 'plane. The machine was his own property which he bought only a fortnight ago." Mr Williams added that as the dead man was a Hindu his body is to be cremated after the inquest which it is expected will be held to-day."

Registration G-EBQP cancelled 21/7/34 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft". For the next 43 years, that was the end of the story. However, on 23/8/77, the registration G-EBQP was restored (C of R 6038) to Michael Charles Russell t/a the Russavia Collection, based at Duxford.

The fuselage of G-EBQP has now been restored to static display, in its original military marks as J7326, and is now at the De Havilland Aircraft Museum at London Colney, Hertfordshire. (see link #9)

1. Western Daily Press - Monday 23 July 1934
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p001.html
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EBQP.pdf
5. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/82-register-gb-g-eb
6. http://www.delscope.co.uk/aviation/hamble.htm#CRA
7. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
8. https://www.britishpathe.com/video/aeroplane-launched-from-the-air
9. https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/aircraft/de-havilland-dh53-humming-bird/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Humming_Bird
11. Flight magazine 1925: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/vie w/1925/1925 - 0698.html

De Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird G-EBQP as "J7326" at the De Havilland Aircraft Museum in 2015 De Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird G-EBQP (still as J7326) being launched from Airship R-33, Pulham, Norfolk 15/10/25:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-May-2018 20:45	Dr. John Smith	Added
26-Feb-2020 01:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
13-Oct-2020 06:49	Sergey L.	Updated [Narrative]