Date:	Friday 4 November 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Tempest II
Owner/operator:	Napier Aircraft Ltd
Registration:	NX235
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Luton Airport, Bedfordshire (LTN/EGGP)
Destination airport:	Luton Airport, Bedfordshire (LTN/EGGP)

Narrative:
On 4 November 1949: A Hawker Tempest single-engine piston fighter (NX235) being operated by Napier Aircraft on a test flight crashed at the airport killing the test pilot. Purpose of flight: Endurance test of modified cooling system.

At end of flight pilot was given ATC clearance to make a low pass across airfield. Pilot [Mr Alan Sutcliffe, Napier Engines Test Pilot] attempted slow roll at 150 feet but nose dropped when inverted and starboard wing hit ground during attempt at recovery. Aircraft disintegrated

According to a report in Flight magazine (10th November 1949 page 626):

"ALAN SUTCLIFFE
FLIGHT learns with regret of the death, on Friday, November 4th, of Alan Sutcliffe, D.F.M., a test pilot of D. Napier and Son, Ltd., as the result of an accident to the Tempest aircraft on which he was making a routine test flight. Mr. Sutcliffe had been flying for Napier's since June, 1946, before which he spent two years as a Service test pilot in the Engine Research Flight of the R.A.E., Farnborough.

During the course of a distinguished R.A.F. career he was awarded the D.F.M. as a bomber pilot. He completed tours with No. 85 Squadron (Mosquito night fighters) and with a fighter interception unit where he was engaged on operational testing of new airborne radar.

A colleague writes: Test pilots of the calibre of Alan Sutcliffe are rare, and his loss will be felt acutely by his company and by the industry as a whole. Those who knew him will have lost a staunch companion and loyal friend. The sympathy of everybody will go to his parents and his five-year-old son, Grahame."

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p,93 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.549-550
3. Test Pilot Killed" (News in Brief). The Times (London). Saturday, 5 November 1949. (51531), col C, p. 4.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton_Airport#Accidents_and_incidents
5. http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=197
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/30/W2471: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578317
7. http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2012/10/
8. Flight Magazine (10 November 1949 page 626): https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201862.html?search=A%20Sutcliffe%20accident
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton_Airport#Accidents_and_incidents

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jan-2011 03:26	Alpine Flight	Added
07-May-2014 17:52	TB	Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
24-Jan-2015 19:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Jan-2015 19:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
07-Dec-2019 14:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
07-Dec-2019 14:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]