This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can
submit corrected information.
Date: | Saturday 27 June 1953 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Hawker Sea Hawk F.1 |
Owner/operator: | A&AEE Boscombe Down |
Registration: | WF149 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Take off |
Nature: | Test |
Departure airport: | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM) |
Destination airport: | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM) |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Hawker Sea Hawk F.Mk.1 WF149, A&AEE Boscombe Down: Delivered 31/08/1952; written off 27/06/1953. Crashed at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, during Gun firing trials. The aircraft took off normally, and made a climbing turn to port, and then straightened out. At about 250 feet agl, the port wing was seen to fold up, and the aircraft rolled to port, then continued to fly in a straight line, before diving into the ground behind the Officer's Mess at Boscombe Down.
Extensive damage to buildings and property on the ground was caused by the crash, and one person on the ground - Aircraftswoman B Lodge - was injured. The cause of the wing folding up in flight was attributed to a defective securing bolt, which sheared under stress loading.
Pilot of Sea Hawk WF149
Squadron Leader D. W. Colquhoun, 'A' Squadron A&AEE Test Pilot - killed in service 27/6/1953
Struck off charge 02/02/1954
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.146 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 382-383
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 37)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/158:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424279 5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2639:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578485 6.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF 7.
https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/421013-boscombe-down-flight-test-accident-1953-a.html 8.
https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=225 9.
https://fr.wikiredia.com/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Hawk Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
31-Mar-2013 23:26 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
19-Oct-2014 17:26 |
Kraus |
Updated [Operator] |
02-Jan-2020 23:24 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
02-May-2021 22:58 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |