Date:	Tuesday 10 December 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Slingsby T.24 Falcon
Owner/operator:	Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd
Registration:	VM113
MSN:	T.24/2
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wombleton Airfield, Harome, Pickering, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
VM113 was the second prototype Slingsby T.24 Falcon glider to Air Ministry Specification TX.8/45.
On 10th December 1946 the pilot of this glider was undertaking a test flight, during a dive at 78 knots a violent wing and aileron flutter occurred causing the ailerons to break away and detach from the airframe. The pilot baled out and the glider crashed near Wombleton Airfield, Harome, Pickering, North Yorkshire

Pilot - Mr John Watson Leach, Slingsbys Chief Test Pilot was uninjured. He is believed to be the first glider pilot in the United Kingdom to successfully bail out of a glider in flight

As a result of this incident, the glider's design was revised to incorporate significant improvements in the wing structure.

Note: Some sources state that the aircraft involved was 1st prototype VM109. This is incorrect: VM109 was scrapped at Cosford, Shropshire sometime after March 1953. As for the third prototype, VM118, that was written off in an accident in August 1948

1. British Gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970 , ELLISON, Norman (1971) [p. 50, 194, 261]
2. Slingsby sailplanes , A comprehensive history of all designs, Simons, Martin (1996) [p. 121-125]
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.255
4. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/vm113.html
5. https://cevans.me/VINTAGE/Documentation/Slingsby%20T24%20Falcon/T%2024%20-%20SLINGSBY%20%20SAILPLANES.pdf
6. http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/VGC%20News%201973-2003/No_98_Winter_1999.pdf
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VM87.
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Wombleton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-May-2013 10:07	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Nov-2019 19:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
27-Sep-2023 08:12	harro	Updated [[Time, Source, Narrative]]