Date:	Saturday 25 May 1946
Time:	11:30 LT
Type:	North American Mustang Mk III (P-51C)
Owner/operator:	RAE Farnborough
Registration:	KH505
MSN:	111-29001
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Broxbourneby Estate, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
North American P-51C-10-NT ex-USAAF 44-10868 [MSN 111-29001]: To RAF as Mustang Mk.III KH505. To RAE Farnborough: Written off (destroyed) 25 May 1946 when crashed on a test flight at Broxbourneby Estate, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. Test flying involved dives from 40,000 feet at not more than 450 m.p.h. to provide data for research into behaviour of various wing sections at close to the speed of sound.

Fifteen minutes after takeoff, when the Mustang had climbed to an altitude of approximately 28,000 feet, the aircraft was seen diving vertically at extremely high speed, emerging from a cloud base of 1,500 feet, before impacting a crop field. Most of the wreckage was so deeply embedded as to be irrecoverable.

Pilot killed, although it was never established as to why he was unable to pull of of the final (and therefore fatal) dive. Pilot incapacitation or spatial disorientation were suspected, but never proved. The former would have been due to anoxia (oxygen starvation) caused by a failure in the pilot's oxygen supply. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Evening Telegraph" - Saturday 25 May 1946):

"Pilot Dies In Burning Plane.
A Mustang fighter crashed to day on open ground at Broxbournebury, Herts. The plane burst into flames and the pilot was killed."

Crew of Mustang KH505:
Squadron Leader Edward Bagley Gale AFC, RCAF Service Number C/1618, aged 28, Aero Flight RAE Farnborough Test Pilot. Killed 25/5/46, buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey

The pilot had been a graduate of No.3 Course, Empire Test Pilots School, and had only joined the RAE at Farnborough shortly before the above fatal accident.

Delivery of Squadron Leader Edward Bagley Gale’s AFC was especially trying. Although it had been awarded to him in May 1944, he had not been invested with the decoration when it was sent from Britain to Canada in 1945. By then he had been posted to Britain. The AFC re-crossed the ocean, but Gale was killed in the above flying accident before it could be presented. His mother finally received it (posthumously, on his behalf) from the hands of the Governor General on November 14, 1950, over four years after his death, and six years after the action for which it was awarded.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.42. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.148
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/28/W2348: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578194
4. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=174
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2762734/gale,-edward-bagley/
6. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=7139.0;wap2
7. http://aircrewremembered.com/gale-edward-bagley.html
8. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_1.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Nov-2019 00:05	Dr. John Smith	Added
22-Nov-2019 00:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
22-Nov-2019 00:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative]
20-Jul-2021 15:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Category]
20-Jul-2021 15:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]