Date:	Friday 27 February 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Miles M.65 Gemini 1A
Owner/operator:	St. Christopher Travel-Ways Ltd
Registration:	G-AJZI
MSN:	6462
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ridge Park, Wallington, Surrey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey (EGCR)
Destination airport:	Lyon–Bron Airport, Bron, Lyon (LYN/LFLY)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
On February 27 1948, a Miles Gemini charter aircraft registered G-AJZI crashed into the gardens between two houses at Ridge Park, Wallington, Surrey, after hitting trees on high ground south-west of the airport a few minutes after taking off from Croydon Airport. The woman co-pilot, Mrs. Patricia Beverley, was killed and Wing Commander W. H. Wetton, the pilot, was injured. It took Commander Wetton nearly a year to recover from the accident

Fueled for maximum range (820 miles), the Gemini 1A has a maximum payload of 662 lb. The normal payload is 764 lb. However, it is reported that it was flying to Lyon (I assume that the reference to Lyons was an error - and that it wasn't planning a stop at a nearby Corner House!), which is a distance of 450 miles - say, roughly half the maximum range (its ultimate destination was Milan) - where, presumably, it would have refuelled.

So let us assume, for present purposes, that this equated to a safe payload, for this flight, roughly halfway between normal and maximum - say, 710 lb. The draft letter from the MCA avers that the Gemini was 384 lb overweight. So relying upon the premises advanced so far, this puts its actual payload at nearly 1100 lb!

One of the news cuttings refers to there being four on board G-AJZI when it crashed. So let us assume that their average weight was 170 lb each. If so, the weight of the 'human payload' would be about 680 lb, which was some 420 lb less than the actual payload. If so, what accounted for the additional 420 lb on board?

The conclusion reached by the Ministry of Civil Aviation accident investigators was that the Gemini crash was mainly caused due to the overloaded condition (by 384 lbs) of the aircraft, with unfavourable conditions (wind, terrain, trees etc) a contributory factor.

Registration G-AJZI cancelled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 28 February 1948 as "crashed (destroyed)"

Apparently one of the passengers in G-AJZI on 27 February 1948 was Peter Whitehead, a racing driver who won the 1938 Australian GP in an ERA and had driven at Brooklands pre-war. The injuries which he suffered, as a result of the crash of the Gemini, had a permanent legacy. His head was displaced forward, he walked with a limp, one shoulder was lower than the other and he had a twisted torso. But despite all of this he and Rob Walker drove a Jaguar C Type to victory in the 1951 Le Mans 24 Hour Race!

Peter Amos (Miles Aircraft : the Post-War Years) relates the opinion of the author of the AAIB report as to the cause of this crash:

"The aircraft flew into trees directly after take-off as a result of its inability to gain sufficient height. Unfavourable conditions of wind, ground surface and rising terrain were contributory factors. Comment was also made that when the aircraft took off from Elstree earlier in the day, it ran practically the whole length of the tarmac surfaced runway before it became airborne and then flew a considerable distance before gaining any appreciable height".

The pilot, Wing Commander Wetton, was held to be to blame for the crash. There was no evidence of any structural or mechanical fault to the aeroplane and both propellers were under power when it hit the trees.

Ridge Park is next to Wallington and is located in Greater London, England, United Kingdom. Ridge Park has a length of 0.23 kilometres.

NOTE: The full routing of the aircraft was Elstree-Croydon-Lyon/Bron-Milan. The stopover at Croydon was to pick up passengers, and the stopover at Lyon would have been to refuel.

1. El Litoral 27 February 1948, p 1
2. Illustrated London News - Saturday 6 March 1948
3. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11488.0
4. File ref. BT 217/2395 at the National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C576549
5. File ref. BT 217/2333 at the National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C576487
6. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/125340-wing-commander-william-herbert-wetton
7. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/394321-croydon-aerodrome-air-safety.html#post5334025
8. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AJZI.pdf
9. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/148063-70-years-ago-today
10. https://gb.geoview.info/ridge_park,23033387
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Whitehead_(racing_driver)#Sports_car_racing

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Feb-2015 12:44	TB	Added
05-May-2017 16:01	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
12-Dec-2019 19:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
12-Dec-2019 19:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
22-Feb-2020 20:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
15-May-2022 02:14	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type]