Date:	Thursday 20 August 1936
Time:	day
Type:	Airspeed AS.5A Courier
Owner/operator:	Airspeed (1934) Ltd
Registration:	G-ACVE
MSN:	22
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hilsea Ramparts, near Portsmouth Aerodrome, Portsmouth, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Illegal Flight
Departure airport:	Portsmouth Aerodrome, Portsmouth, Hampshire
Destination airport:	Spain
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
First Registered as G-ACVE [C of R 5185] 3.7.34 to unknown party [probably Airspeed (1934) Ltd and stored at Portsmouth]. C of A 5621 issued 14.8.36. Purchased by Spanish Republican agent, Carlos Krauel and re-registered [C of R 7272] 19.8.36 to Union Founders Trust Ltd.

One of the earliest aircraft hijackings took place at Portsmouth on 20.8.36, when 2 Airspeed employees stole the above aircraft with the intention of flying it to Spain, to join the Spanish Republicans, where the civil air war had just started. They were tempted by the reports of high wages, but as neither man could actually fly an aircraft, the story inevitably had an unhappy ending.

The 'plane crashed into the Hilsea Ramparts at the north of the field, just east of the railway line, killing one of the pair. (Arthur Chapman Gargett (aged 22) who died 4.9.36 of injuries sustained). The other - Joseph Allen Smith - was injured, and later sentenced to four months in jail. The sentence was later extended due to Arthur Gargett's death, when a charge of "involuntary manslaughter" was brought against Joseph Allen Smith. A contemporary newspaper report covered the theft and subsequent crash of G-ACVE ("Dundee Evening Telegraph" - Thursday 20 August 1936)

"'PLANE TAKEN FROM HANGAR - FOUND DAMAGED NEAR AERODROME
Two Occupants Removed to Hospital

Two men were found injured in a 'plane which had been removed from one of the hangars at the works of Airspeed, Ltd., Portsmouth, early to-day. The 'plane - a courier - was found damaged not far from the hangar. Both the men were removed to hospital. In an official statement, Airspeed, Ltd., say that neither of the men is a pilot and the act was entirely unauthorised.

The injured men are Arthur Chapman Gargett (22), of Northern Road, Copnor, suffering from fractured leg and facial abrasions, and Joseph Allan Smith (27), of Somers Road, Southsea, suffering from facial abrasions and injuries to both legs. "Gargett has been admitted to the genera! ward," it was stated, "but Smith is in the casualty department awaiting the result X-ray examination," The condition of both men is said to be " fairly good."

Statements Taken.
When the plane was found, aerodrome ambulance men went to the spot, but had difficulty in extricating Gargett, who was lying among trees and bracken. Workmen had to force their way through undergrowth, and two police officers lowered part of a broken wing of the machine. Gargett was strapped to it and hauled to the top. Police officers visited Portsmouth Hospital and took statements from the injured men.

Nearly Clear of Moat.
The accident occurred at Portsmouth City Airport, where the works of Airspeed Ltd. are situated. The machine was nearly clear of the moat on the northern outskirts when it crashed. Its two occupants were thrown out. The Airspeed Courier machine, according to Janes' " Aircraft," is a four or five passenger aeroplane. Single-engined, the machine is a low-wing cantilever monoplane. In the enclosed cabin there is ample accommodation for a crew of two in addition to the passengers.

Eyewitness' Story.
The fore part of the machine that crashed was a twisted mass of wreckage, but the rear was scarcely damaged. A labourer working on roadway near the aerodrome told a reporter that he saw the 'plane being taxied about on the eastern boundary. After one of the occupants had got out and turned the tail round it started a takeoff run. "When the machine left the ground," the man said, " it was going across wind. It seemed that the wind lifted the left wing. Suddenly I saw the tip of the right wing hit tree on the bank of the old ramparts, and then there was a sound like the falling of a big tree. The machine, after hitting the tree, fell into the moat. There was a good deal petrol about, but the machine did not catch fire."

Registration G-ACVE cancelled 2.10.36 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft".

1. Portsmouth Airport by Anthony Triggs.
Published Halsgrove, 2002. Page 64. Includes illustration.
ISBN 1 84114 153 4
British Civil Aircraft Registers 1919 to 1999
Compiled by Michael Austen
Air Britain (Historians) Ltd 1999
ISBN 0 85130 281 5
2. Dundee Evening Telegraph - Thursday 20 August 1936 and Saturday 12 December 1936
3. Portsmouth Evening News - Thursday 20 August 1936, Friday 04 September 1936, Thursday 15 October 1936 and Wednesday 11 November 1936 (Inquest)
4. Hampshire Telegraph - Friday 18 December 1936 (Trial of survivor, Joseph Allan Smith)
5. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/77-register-gb-g-ac
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ACVE.pdf
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A5.html
8. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
9. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as5a-courier-portsmouth-1-killed
10. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
11. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_prewar.pdf
12. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14061.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Jan-2010 11:01	John Baker	Added
30-Dec-2017 01:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Feb-2020 19:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
24-Feb-2020 19:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
24-Feb-2020 19:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]