Date:	Tuesday 20 November 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Hiller UH-12A
Owner/operator:	Fison-Airwork Ltd
Registration:	G-AMMY
MSN:	148
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Grantchester, 2 miles S of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Agricultural
Departure airport:	Bourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hiller 360 UH-12A: Ex-US Registry as N8148H, and Belgian registry as OO-MAT. First UK civil registered as G-AMMY (C of R R.3438/1; C of A V.3438) on 26/10/51 to Pest Control Ltd., Bourn, Cambridgeshire. Registration cancelled 25/11/55. Transferred/sold on same day (25/11/55) to Fison--Airwork Ltd., Bourn, Cambridgeshire.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20/11/56 when crashed at Grantchester, 2 miles south of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire during agricultural/crop-spaying operations. Pilot killed, accident attributed to a drive shaft failure. According to a contemporary report in Flight magazine (30 November 1956 page 839):

"Helicopter Accident Inquest
WHEN the inquest on Air. P. S. Brierley, pilot of a Hiller 360 helicopter owned by Fison-Airwork, Ltd., which crashed on November 20 near Cambridge, was held at Grantchester on November 23, a verdict of accidental death was returned. The jury were told that the "breakage of a driving shaft" caused the crash and Mr. J. G. Goulding, senior investigating officer of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, said in evidence that nothing had been revealed so far to place blame on faulty materials or workmanship."The fault could not reasonably have been discovered in the course of regular servicing and inspection," he added. "The makers of component parts placed full reliance in the shaft. Its life is limitless in this type of helicopter. We have got quite a lot of work ahead of us, which entails the most minute investigation,before we can arrive at the cause of the break"

Registration G-AMMY cancelled 3/11/58 as "withdrawn"

1. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/145: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414917
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/146: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414918
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AMMY.pdf
4. Flight magazine 30 November 1956 p 839: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1956/1956%20-%201677.PDF.
5. G-AMMY when Belgian registered as OO-MAT: http://www.belgian-wings.be/images/CivilPics/Hiller_UH12A_1950_OO-MAT_01.jpg
6. http://www.rotorspot.nl/historic/g-1.php

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2019 20:08	Dr. John Smith	Added