ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 143816
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| Date: | Monday 27 July 1970 |
| Time: | 11:00 |
| Type: |  English Electric Lightning F6 |
| Owner/operator: | 74 (Tiger) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | XS930 |
| MSN: | 95263 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Chua Chu Kang Farm, near RAF Tengah -
 Singapore
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Tengah, Singapore (TGA/WSAT) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
First flown by R.P. Beamont on 20-3-67 at BAC Samlesbury. Delivered to 11 Squadron, 26-5-67. Crashed, 27-7-70, while with 74 Squadron, Tengah, Singapore as 'L'.
It was intended that the aircraft would take off from Tengah, Singapore and then execute a maximum rate climb for the benefit of a photographer. The photographer, however was not positioned far enough along the runway for the Lightning to have attained sufficient speed. The pilot pulled up next to the photographer nonetheless but the aircraft stalled. After getting airborne safely from Tengah and, some 300 feet short of the runway barrier, he rotated.
The Lightning snapped into the vertical without climbing and mushed along the runway before staggering to 400 feet. The aircraft then auto-rotated, coming down like a leaf, then after what looked like a recovery it disappeared behind a screen of trees, a pall of smoke confirmed the worst...
It was found a shift in fuel from the wings towards the rear, had unbalanced the aircraft, something the pilot never knew of at the time. The RAF and manufacturer looked into the centre of gravity issue of the jet afterwards.
XS930 then looped twice and crashed into a Malay village, at Chua Chu Kang Farm, near Tengah, destroying 100 buildings and killing two villagers. (According to contemporary press reports - see below - it was also claimed at the time that 1,000 chickens were killed in the ensuring fire).
The pilot - Flt Lt Whitehouse - ejected at too low an altitude and was killed.
Sources:
1. http://www.aviation-picture-hangar.co.uk/xs930.html
2. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.lightning.org.uk/histf6.htm]
3. http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7733&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1970.htm
5. The Straits Times 28 July 1970 at http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Page/straitstimes19700728-1.1.1.aspx (front page) and http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Page/straitstimes19700728-1.1.26.aspx (back page)
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_English_Electric_Lightning#1970s
Images:
At the crash site a couple of days later.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Feb-2012 15:09 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 07-Apr-2013 08:24 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative] |
| 28-Jun-2013 22:36 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 28-Jun-2013 22:39 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 03-Oct-2013 23:30 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 30-May-2018 18:17 | Bill Here | Updated [Narrative, Photo, ] |
| 18-Jul-2021 09:33 | Anon. | Updated [Time, Operator, Nature, Narrative, Operator] |
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