ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 144710
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| Date: | Friday 30 March 1962 |
| Time: | 15:15 LT |
| Type: |  Hawker Hunter FGA Mk 9 |
| Owner/operator: | 8 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | XE607 |
| MSN: | 41H-679965 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF Khormaksar, Aden -
 Yemen
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | RAF Khormaksar, Aden (ADE/OYAA) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The main Royal Air Force contribution to Aden Forces Week was the Open Day at Khormaksar on 30 March, 1962. The flying display was to be opened at 15:15 by a sonic boom followed by a high speed, low level flypast.
Three Hunters took off in formation at 15:04 and, once out of sight of the crowd, separated. No.3 was to do a flypast from West to East on the South side of the main runway. Nos.1 and 2 were to aim a sonic boom at the centre of the airfield, throttle back to subsonic speed and steepen their dive before pulling out to fly across the airfield from East to West on the North side of the main runway. The three aircraft were to pass the control tower at the same time at 250 feet.
A delay of one minute in getting off the ground gave Nos.1 and 2 slightly reduced entry speed from that used in practice but the timing was perfect. The pair dived at 0.98 Mach, reduced speed and increased the angle of dive as planned and at 7,000 feet started pulling out from the 45 degree dive. During the pull out the leader did no exceed 3 ‘g’ . No.2 in XE607 never fully recovered from the dive and struck the ground at an angle of about 25 degrees. The aircraft exploded on impact. Half the wreckage was buried in the sides and bottom of the 20 foot crater and the remainder in small fragments carried forward along the line of flight for up to 3,000 feet.
Although 60,000 people saw the crash, comparatively few of them realized what had happened. HMS Centaur was in Aden at the time and many thought the RAF had borrowed the ‘Atomic Explosion’ pyrotechnic from the Royal Navy! Eye-witness accounts showed a wide diversity of opinion but fortunately Cpl T. Edmondson of 37 Squadron, came forward with an 8mm film showing the last second of the dive. This valuable piece of evidence gave a positive indication of the angle of impact and supported the evidence of the most reliably placed eye witnesses that the aircraft had made an appreciable recovery from the dive. The force of the explosion destroyed the majority of the evidence that might have proved the cause of the accident. However, the tailplane actuator ram was recovered and indicated that, at the time of impact, the aircraft had a 2° 15’ nose down trim. The recovery of an elevator hydraulic jack showed that the main hydraulic supply had not failed.
The briefing was that the tailplane interconnection should be on. Subsequent flight tests along a similar profile with the interconnection ON showed that during pull-out the tail trim was between zero and ½° nose up. Tests also showed that at 0.95 Mach with full nose down trim, an aircraft remained in the dive with the control column held fully back and that at 0.95 Mach with 2¼° nose down trim, a slow recovery was possible.
The Board examined a number of possible causes of the crash ranging from structural failure to hyperventilation. The only theory consistent with the facts was that the tail trim ran fully nose down during the dive which would become apparent to the pilot at or about the time the pull-out commenced (7,000 feet). He would find that he could not trim back on the main trim and would use the standby trim. Due to it’s slower motoring rate insufficient nose up change of trim could be made to effect the pull-out, but sufficient recovery would be made to lead the pilot to think that he might make it, hence no attempt at ejection. An estimate of the flight profile suggests that another 300 feet of height might have been sufficient.
Half the wreckage was buried in the sides and bottom of the 20-foot crater. An investigation into the causes of and cures for ‘runaway’ trim on the Hunter is being made by the Air Ministry. Our own investigations suggest a possibility of a ‘stray positive’ in the multi-pin plug at the leg panel socket and a modification to completely isolate the trim tail control wiring has been drafted.
The pilot, Flying Officer P.J.H. Blackgrove was killed on impact
Sources:
1. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1962.htm
2. http://www.radfanhunters.co.uk/Accidents.htm
3. http://rafforum.activeboard.com/t25036332/khormaksar-air-displays/laurencembean.fotopic.net/
4. http://pub20.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=1655551732&frmid=98&msgid=909735&cmd=show
5. http://www.angelfire.com/planet/raydeacon0/8-1962.htm
6. http://www.onstuis.co.uk/khormaksar.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Mar-2012 08:32 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 19-Aug-2012 12:35 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 16-Oct-2013 17:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative] |
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