Date:	Sunday 1 October 1933
Time:	day
Type:	Percival D.2 Gull Four
Owner/operator:	British Air Navigation Co Ltd
Registration:	G-ACAL
MSN:	D.21
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Old Place, Sandhurst, near Hawkhurst, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA/LFOB)
Destination airport:	Heston Aerodrome, Heston, Middlesex
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
First registered as G-ACAL on 10.11.32 to William Lindsay Everard, Ratcliffe, Leicestershire (based at Ratcliffe Aerodrome, Leicestershre). Written off (damaged beyond repair) 1.10.33 when crashed at Sandhurst, near Hawkhurst, Kent. All three persons on board - pilot and two passengers - were killed. The three fatalities were

Captain Arthur Jack Graham Styran, MC, AFC (pilot, aged 43)
Ian Charles McGilchrist (passenger/company manager, aged 27)
Bertram Wilson (passenger/photographer, aged 38)

According to the following contemporary report ("Flight" magazine October 5, 1933):

"B.A.N.C.O.'s Crash

It is with the greatest regret that we have to record the deaths of three persons in a crash in a Percival Gull aircraft (Napier "Javelin" engine), owned by the British Air Navigation Co., Ltd., of Heston Airport. Capt. A. J. Styran, the pilot; Mr. Ian. C. MacGilchrist, chairman of the company; and Mr. Bertram Wilson, a photographer on the staff of the Daily Sketch, were returning from Beauvais, after witnessing the R.101 memorial ceremony on Sunday, October 1, when they crashed in poor visibility at Old Place, Sandhurst, a few miles from Hawkhurst, in Kent.

According to an account in The Times, a farm labourer near the scene of the accident heard two aeroplanes flying overhead, then one went away, and the other's engine seemed to be throttled back, after which the crash occurred.

The three occupants must have been killed instantly. "Bill" Styran was well known in aeronautical circles, and a most likeable personality. He was a director of B.A.N.C.O., and has been flying for them since they started in January, 1932.

He served in the R.A.F. and the Irish Flying Corps, and was a frequent competitor in air races, last year winning the Folkestone Trophy Race in Mr. MacGilchrist s Comper Swift (DeHavilland Gipsy engine), and this year gaining third place in the King's Cup with Mr. Hall Caine’s DeHavilland Leopard Moth (DH Gipsy Major engine). Mr. MacGilchrist was the man who made the existence of B.A.N.C.O. possible, and backed it from the start. He did a considerable amount of flying himself as a passenger, and was also learning to fly with the Airwork Flying School at Heston.

He was quite a young man who had a keen appreciation of the possibilities of aviation, and the loss of both him and Capt. Styran is one which can ill be afforded. A memorial service was held at St. Columba’s Church, Pont Street, London, W.1, at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, October 5. We offer our sincerest sympathies to the relatives of these men and to the firms which have lost their valuable services."

Sandhurst is a village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, close to the border with East Sussex. It is situated on the A268 road near the villages of Hawkhurst and Northiam.

1. Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald - Saturday 7 October 1933
2. Fallen Eagles: Airmen Who Survived The Great War Only to Die in Peacetime By Norman Franks
3. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aeroplanes/15-aeroplanes/77-register-gb-g-ac
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ACAL.pdf
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/15/C255: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576723
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A4.html
8. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/archive/Archive_1991.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhurst,_Kent

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Oct-2017 23:29	Dr. John Smith	Added
31-Oct-2017 23:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
31-Oct-2017 23:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
11-Dec-2017 18:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
05-Mar-2020 21:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
25-Sep-2022 19:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Category]
25-Sep-2022 19:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]