ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 232921
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| Date: | Tuesday 5 February 1952 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Supermarine Attacker F.1 |
| Owner/operator: | A&AEE Boscombe Down |
| Registration: | WA485 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Leckford, near Andover, Hampshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | South Marston, Swindon, Wiltshire |
| Chilbolton, Hampshire (EGIC) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA485, A&AEE Boscombe Down: Written off (destroyed) 5 February 1952 when crashed at Leckford, near Andover, Hampshire. PIlot killed. Aircraft was engaged on a test flight from Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) flight test centre at South Marston, Swindon, Wiltshire. Purpose of test flight was to undertake trials to determine behaviour of new slab tailplane
On 5th February 1952 Lt Cmdr Orr-Ewing took off from RAF Boscombe Down and did low level tests - all carried out at about 1,000 feet. Most of this was close to Andover which is about 13 miles from Boscombe Down. Without warning the aircraft plunged nose first into a bog. The aircraft totally disappeared, burying itself several feet down. The A&AEE knew where the aircraft had crashed but there was no trace of Lt Cmdr Orr-Ewing so initially he was posted as "Missing - presumed killed". The aircraft was recovered on 6th February 1952 and so was the body of Lt Cmdr Orr-Ewing. The aircraft was 'written off from service' on 7th February 1952.
According to contemporary newspaper reports ("Portsmouth Evening News" - Tuesday 5 February 1952/Wednesday 6 February 1952):
"JET CRASHES INTO BOG.
A Naval Attacker jet aircraft vanished after nose-diving into a peat bog near the main Andover-Stockbridge road this afternoon. Patches of blood on the surface of the crater suggested that the pilot was still inside when the aircraft crashed. The Attacker is one of Britain's latest jet fighters.
PILOT NAMED.
The pilot, of the naval Attacker jet aircraft which yesterday vanished completely after crashing in a peat bog near Andover was Lieut.-Cmdr. (E) Robert Malcolm Orr-Ewing, of Boscombe Down. He has been posted as "missing, presumed killed," the Admiralty announced to-day"
The Supermarine Attacker was being flown by Lt Cmdr Robert Malcolm Orr-Ewing who was was attached to "C Squadron (Armament Testing Squadron)". This squadron was divided into three Flights - "A Flight", "B Flight" and "C Flight". Lt Cmdr Orr-Ewing was flying as a Test Pilot with "C Flight (Special Duties Flight)" ...although Royal Navy records show him as attached to "HMS Daedalus" (the Navy's name for RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire)
Attacker F,1 WA485 had a brief moment of stardom when it appeared in the 1952 David Lean film "The Sound Barrier", as the fictional "Type 901 Naval Jet fighter" (see link #5). The reported crash location of Leckford is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies on the eastern bank of the River Test just to the south of its confluence with the River Anton, to the east of Longstock and south of Chilbolton.
Sources:
1. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=215
2. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=8571.0
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leckford
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
5. Still of the 1952 film "The Sound Barrier" showing Attacker WA485: https://www.impdb.org/images/7/7d/Sound-Barrier_Supermarine-Attacker-WA485.JPG
6. https://www.flickr.com/photos/78792726@N00/2800087439
7. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1952.htm
8. https://www.airshowspresent.com/raf-chilbolton.html
9. https://www.key.aero/comment/1254899#comment-1254899
9. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Feb-2020 22:53 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 12-Feb-2020 22:54 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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