Date:	Thursday 8 December 1955
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Javelin FAW Mk I
Owner/operator:	Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE
Registration:	XA561
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Green Lane, Ashey, Havenstreet, near Ryde, Isle of Wight -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Destination airport:	Boscombe Down, Wiltshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Javelin XA561, A&AEE Boscombe Down: Crashed 08-12-1955 at Green Lane, Ashey, Havenstreet, near Ryde, Isle of Wight after entering a spin during spinning and buffet boundary trials. The pilot ejected safely after being unable to recover the aircraft even after deploying the anti spin parachute. According to the following contemporary newspaper report ("Aberdeen Evening Express" - Thursday 8 December 1955):

"RESEARCH PLANE CRASHES
A Gloster Javelin jet fighter from the R.A.F. Armament and Experimental Research Station at Boscombe Down, crashed at Green Lane, Ashey, Isle of Wight, to-day. The pilot, Squadron-Leader A. David Dick, radioed that he was baling out over the island, and was picked up later by an R.A.F. helicopter. The plane, a research aircraft, was understood to have crashed into a small, unmanned electricity sub-station."

Squadron Leader A. David Dick (Graduate No. 12 Course), was from `A' Squadron, A&AEE, and engaged in Spinning and manoeuvre boundary trials. During the manoeuvre boundary investigation, in a left hand spiral turn at 180 knots at 39,000 feet and pulling 3 "G" into the pre-stall buffet, the aircraft entered a stable flat spin with an unusually high rotational speed and would not recover even with the anti spin parachute streamed. The pilot successfully ejected over Rowborough Corner, Isle of Wight, from 8,000ft and landed in marshland. Flt Lt J. M. Crowley, airborne on an air test in Hunter F.6 XF833, intercepted the spinning Javelin, and acted as an aerial observer for the whole event, and directed the recovery of the pilot by helicopter.

This accident resulted in the development of an artificial stall warning device for the Javelin. In addition, Squadron Leader A.D. Dick's ejection from Gloster Javelin Mk1 XA561 was the first use of the Mk3 Martin Baker ejector seat.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.177 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 6)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.169
4. Gloster Javelin: An Operation History By Michael Napier, p,241
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1955.htm
6. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=9885.0;wap2
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Javelin#Production_and_further_development
8. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1955.htm
9. http://web.archive.org/web/20160315205241/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/PROJECT/Biographies/D/Dick_David/Dick_David.htm
10. http://wight.hampshireairfields.co.uk/iowc.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashey
12. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XA
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(1955%E2%80%931959)#1955

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Nov-2016 14:15	Dr.John Smith	Added
06-Feb-2020 23:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
06-Jun-2020 15:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
07-Jun-2020 15:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
21-May-2023 08:45	Nepa	Updated [[Source]]