Date:	Thursday 7 December 1967
Time:	day
Type:	Westland Whirlwind HCC.12
Owner/operator:	Queens Flt RAF
Registration:	XR487
MSN:	WA.419
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Malthouse Farm, Brightwalton, 7 miles NNW of Newbury, Berkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Benson, Oxfordshire (EGUB)
Destination airport:	Westland/Yeovil Airport, Yeovil, Somerset (EGHG)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Westland Whirlwind HCC.12: Built as HCC.12 specifically for the Queens Flight and delivered to RAF Benson in May 1964.

During a flight on 7 December 1967 from Benson to Yeovil the main rotor hub and blade detached due to fatigue failure of the drive shaft. It crashed into a field at Malthouse Farm, Brightwalton a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs centred 7 miles (11 km) North North West of Newbury in West Berkshire. Berkshire killing the four crew. After this accident the Queen was never again allowed to fly in a single engine aircraft

Crew of Whirlwind HCC.12 XR487:
Pilot was 150493 Squadron Leader Jack Harry Liversidge DFC, AFC
Navigator 410362 Flight Lieutenant Ronald Fisher.
Passengers Air Commodore John Blount and
Squadron Leader 609039 Michael William Hermon

According to a report in the "Daily Express" (12 April 2018) which reported on the sale of the pilot's medals

"On the 7th December 1967 while flying Queen's Flight Westland Whirlwind XR487 en route from RAF Benson to Yeovil to attend a meeting related to the Flight's future Wessex aircraft, the aircraft's driveshaft failed due to fatigue, resulting in the the main rotor hub becoming detached. The aircraft crashed at Brightwalton, Berkshire, killing Sqn Ldr Liversidge, Flight Lieutenant R Fisher and their two passengers, Air Commodore J H L Blount DFC, the captain of the Queens’s Flight, and Squadron Leader M W Hermon, the Flight’s Engineering Officer".

1. El Tiempo 8 December 1967, p.11
2. Daily Express 12th April 2018: https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/945267/bravery-medals-unearthed-queens-former-pilot
3. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1967.htm
5. http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/royalhelicopters.htm
6. https://www.helis.com/database/cn/26765/
7. https://www.key.aero/article/serving-royal-family
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightwalton

Two Westland Whirlwind HCC.12s were built XR486 and XR487; Pictured below is the sole survivor XR486. At the International Helicopter Museum. Weston-Super-Mare 15-6-2011: Shah of Iran visiting West Burton Power Station on 6th of March 1965 with Sir Robert Laycock, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, arriving in Westland Whirlwind XR487 of the Queens Flight:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Feb-2014 17:17	TB	Added
17-Feb-2014 17:18	TB	Updated [Operator]
13-Jun-2020 16:33	Jack Frost	Updated [Narrative]
12-Jul-2022 23:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]
12-Jul-2022 23:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
14-Jul-2022 13:11	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]