Date:	Friday 13 March 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS)
Registration:	VV672
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire, Enland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Hampshire (EGLF)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Vampire VV672: (Empire Test Pilots School): Written off (destroyed) 13/3/53 when crashed on take off from Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire

Vampire VV672 suffered an explosion in the engine during a take-off from Runway 07 at Farnborough on 13th March 1953. As he had just got airborne, and was only 50 feet above the deck, the pilot, Flight Lieutenant E. C. Rigg (a student with the Empire Test Pilot School) decided to belly-land immediately. VV672 skidded along the ground, struck a Post Office van with one wing which caused the Vampire to slew round, cleared some excavations near the Police Hut, and finally came to rest ten yards outside the South Gate of the R.A.E. Fire broke out straight away, but the pilot escaped with only minor injuries after being helped from the aircraft by a police constable on duty.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.142 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 348
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 92)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/141: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424262
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2621: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578467
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=5853.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Dec-2019 22:47	Dr. John Smith	Added
01-Jan-2020 09:03	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
21-Feb-2020 14:32	Iwosh	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
27-Jun-2022 11:04	Nepa	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]