Date:	Sunday 30 August 1970
Time:	day
Type:	Beagle A.61 Terrier 2
Owner/operator:	Trustees of the Lapwing Flying Group
Registration:	G-ASAD
MSN:	3731/B.610
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	English Channel, 5 miles ESE of Dungeness Lighthouse, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Ipswich Airport, Ipswich, Suffolk (IPW/EGSE)
Destination airport:	Berck-Sur-Mer, Pas de Calais, France (LFAM)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Delivered 2/10/1950 to RAF as Auster AOP.6 WE559 (c/no 3731); known RAF service as "Z" with 664 Squadron. Transferred to the AAC 1/9/1957, sold 15/10/1961 to Beagle-Auster Aircraft Ltd. Rebuilt as Beagle Terrier 2 (c/no. B.610) to G-ASAD 1/6/1962 when first civil registered (C of R R7628/1) to Airways Aero Association Ltd., London SW.1. Owners address changed to Heathrow Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex, with effect from 8/1/65. Registration cancelled 26-4-69 upon sale.

Sold on and re-registered (C of R R7628/2) on 30/5/69 to Trustees of the Assets of the Lapwing (Civil Service) Flying Group. Two of the three registered owners were based in Stanwell, Middlesex (just to the south of Heathrow Airport)

Written off 30/8/1970 when ditched into the sea off Dungeness, Kent. It was from Ipswich Airport that it departed on 30 August 1970, transiting Southend Airport (presumably for customs' clearance) en route to its intended destination, Berck-sur-Mer in the Pas de Calais, France. It never made its destination because, later that day, it suffered engine failure and ditched in the sea off Dungeness. The crew of two survived the ditching, and presumably were recovered by boat, but the Terrier sunk and was not recovered. However, the wreck of the Terrier remains in situ, at a depth of 28 metres, some 5 miles ENE of Dungeness Lighthouse (at least, the wreck is recorded as being there as late as 2009).

According to a contemporary newspaper report (Birmingham Daily Post - Monday 31 August 1970)

PLANE IN SEA
A light aircraft from Lympne, Kent, crashed in the sea two miles off Folkestone last night. One man was picked up after an hour by the Brazilian ship Doce Monte but another man was missing."

Note that various sources give different locations as to where G-ASAD came down: it definitely came down in the English Channel off the coast of Kent, but it was "5 miles East South East of Dungeness Lighthouse, Kent" or "Two miles off Folkestone, Kent" or "9 miles South-East of Lympne, Kent", depending upon which source is used!

Registration G-ASAD cancelled by UK Civil Aviation Authority 6/10/1970 as "aircraft destroyed"

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Galley, Air Britain, 1985 p 34)
2. Birmingham Daily Post - Monday 31 August 1970
3. Aberdeen Evening Express - Monday 31 August 1970
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ASAD.pdf
5. G-ASAD at Ipswich 16/5/70: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1326669
6. https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?118290
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14998.0
8. http://austerhg.org/gallery3/Auster-1243594292/Model_K_and-_Q/WE559-Mk7-1
9. http://austerhg.org/gallery3/Auster-1243594292/Model_K_and-_Q/WE559-Mk6-Pic-2
10. WE559 at Middle Wallop 23/7/60: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1072995
11. http://www.aviationbanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=70851&d=1414502543
12. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
13. http://austerhg.org/gallery3/Auster-1243594292/Model_A61/G-ASAD-A61
14. http://austerhg.org/gallery3/Auster-1243594292/Model_A61/G-ASAD-A61-2
15. G-ASAD on 16/5/70: https://www.airhistory.net/photo/74603
16. https://aflyinghistory.com/search-aeroplane-photographs?query=G-ASAD
17. https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Beagle-A-61-Terrier-2/2037060/L .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jun-2009 21:06	VHKDK	Added
25-Feb-2012 10:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Jun-2013 18:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
27-Feb-2020 22:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Feb-2020 23:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
27-Feb-2020 23:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
22-Jul-2020 18:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
22-Jul-2020 19:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
22-Jul-2020 19:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]