Date:	Friday 18 November 1949
Time:	11:50 LT
Type:	Supermarine Seafire F.45
Owner/operator:	771 Sqn FAA RN
Registration:	LA456
MSN:	CBAF.15506
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Stubbington Lane, Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus), Hampshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Supermarine Seafire F.45 LA456 771 Squadron FAA RN: Written off (destroyed) 18 November 1949 when crashed on take off from RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus), Hampshire. A civilian council employee was killed, and the pilot died two days after the crash from injuries sustained. According to a contemporary newspaper report into the accident ("Portsmouth Evening News" - Friday 18 November 1949)

"ONE DEAD, FOUR INJURED AT LEE-ON-SOLENT
CRASHING PLANE SWEPT ACROSS ROAD
One man was killed, and a pilot and three civilians injured when a fighter aircraft taking off from the Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent, shortly before mid-day, crashed through the barbed-wire boundary fence and overturned across Stubbington Lane.

Fareham Council workmen, a man and his small son, and a woman on a bicycle miraculously escaped death as the plane tore through the barbed wire coils. The aircraft careered across the road and crushed Council employee Tom Verrall in the manhole where he was at work. Mr. Verrall, who lives with his parents at Greenwoods Camp, Titchfleld, was taken by ambulance to Haslar Naval Hospital, suffering from multiple injuries. He died on arrival.

The pilot, a naval lieutenant, was severely injured. His next-of-kin have been informed. Naval personnel were soon dragging the aircraft from across the road on to the airfield. Casualties taken to Gosport Hospital and detained were elderly Miss King of Gosport Road, Stubbington; Mr Young (31), of 69, Elmore Avenue, Lee, suffering from suspected spinal injury; and his four-year-old son who had lacerated legs.

"It all happened in an instant," one of the workmen told a reporter. As soon they regained their feet they helped casualties to a nearby bungalow for treatment.

Crushed in Manhole
Workmen looking at the hole in the road where Mr. Tom Verrall was engaged when the plane careered across the road"

A further report three days later covered the inquest into the two deaths ("Portsmouth Evening News" - Tuesday 22 November 1949):

"AIRCRAFT 'DANGER' AT LEE-ON-SOLENT
"I must confess I am perturbed over this accident, because Stubbington Lane is a public road," said Major G. H. Warner (Coroner for South Hampshire) at the inquest, yesterday, on victims of an air crash at Lee-on-Solent last Friday.

Fatally injured were Thomas Charles Verrall (29), single, of 8, Greenwoods Camp, Titchfield, employed on road work by Fareham Urban Council, and Lieutenant James Grant Dugdale, R.N. (24), pilot of the aircraft, whose home was in Musselburgh, Midlothian.

Chief evidence as to the accident was given by Gordon Pettit, an excavator employed by Fareham Council, living at 72, Laburnum Road, Fareham. He said that he and Mr. Verrall were engaged on road work in Stubbington Lane, on the fringe of the aerodrome.

"I saw an aircraft approaching along the runway at very fast speed," he said. "It tore through the barbed wire fencing surrounding the aerodrome, and came on to the road near where I was working. It appeared to me to turn a complete somersault, and landed on a wooden fence on the opposite side of the road. My mate, Verrall, was working in a hole at the road works. The machine appeared to crush him into the hole."

"LOW LANDINGS"
Questioned by Mr, E. H. Nicholson (for the relatives of Mr. Verrall), witness said he had not received instructions about posting a look-out. Mr. H G, Williams (for Fareham Council); They had been working there about a fortnight, and many planes had passed over in taking off and landing.

"Sometimes," said the witness, "they came in to land lower than I think is necessary."

Lieut.-Cmdr. J. G. Baldwin, R N., Commanding Officer, 771 Squadron, R.N A.S., Lee-on- Solent, said Lieut. Dugdale was an experienced pilot in full flying practice. Lieut. Robert James Reading, R.N., said he was in the Flying Control Tower on Friday morning when Lieut. Dugdale, who was in a Seafire aircraft, was given clearance to land.

TOUCHED DOWN
On the final approach the aircraft appeared to be travelling too fast and at too steep an angle for an engine-assisted landing. The aircraft touched down, but when two-thirds of the way up the runway, the tail of the aircraft was still off the ground. It went on and struck the fence on the western side of the aerodrome.

In answer to the Coroner, Lieut. Reading said he did not think the machine was going too fast to pull up. Lieut.-Cmdr. Baldwin said an official Naval inquiry was to be held on Wednesday.

LEG INJURIES
Surgn.-Lieut. R. S. C. Crouch said Mr. Verrall died from shock following severe injuries to his right leg, and Lieut Dugdale's death was due to respiratory failure caused by damage to the spinal cord."

1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant, Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain, 2004 p.517)
2. Portsmouth Evening News Friday 19 November 1949, Monday 21 November 1949 and Tuesday 22 November 1949
3. The Scotsman - Wednesday 23 November 1949
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13103.0
5. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1949.htm
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p054.html
7. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Feb-2020 23:54	Dr. John Smith	Added
14-Feb-2020 13:41	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
25-Dec-2020 02:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source, Narrative]
25-Dec-2020 02:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn]