Date:	Saturday 3 October 1936
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Moth
Owner/operator:	The Insurance Flying Club Ltd
Registration:	G-AAJN
MSN:	1049
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Brooklands Aerodrome, Weybridge, Surrey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	London Air Park, Hanworth Aerodrome, Hanworth, Middlesex
Destination airport:	Brooklands Aerodrome, Weybridge, Surrey

Narrative:
c/no. 1049: DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I]. Registered as G-AAJN [C of R 2059] 28.6.29 to Leslie F Horne (of outfitters Horne Bros), Stag Lane, Edgware, Middlesex. C of A 2104 issued 4.7.29. Crashed Llandrindod 2.9.33; repaired. Registered [C of R 5496] 12.12.34 to The Insurance Flying Club Ltd, Hanworth, Middlesex.

Written off (destroyed) when crashed near Weybridge, Surrey 3.10.36; pilot James Skipworth Wilkinson (aged 18) killed, and passenger, Miss Margaret Maffett was injured. While approaching Brooklands, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in Weybridge. The pilot was killed and the female passenger was injured.

Probable cause: It was explained that the machine was a dual control 'plane, and that it crashed after entering a spin. It was rule of the club that when a pilot took up an unqualified passenger the controls should be disconnected. An Air Ministry inspector told how he found marks and paint on one of the girl's shoes, from which it was obvious that she put her foot on the rudder bar pedal. His theory was that at some time during the spin she unwittingly put her foot down, and this would obstruct the pilot's recovery.

She was taken to Weybridge Hospital. A contemporary newspaper report covered the inquest into the death of the pilot ("Sheffield Independent" - Wednesday 7 October 1936)

"GIRL PASSENGER UNWITTING CAUSE OF FLYING CRASH?
That a woman passenger was the unwitting cause of a flying tragedy was the theory advanced by an expert at the inquest at Weybridge yesterday, James Skipworth Wilkinson, aged 18, a member of the Insurance Flying Club at Hanworth, who was killed in a plane crash at Weybridge last Saturday.

A verdict of "Death from Misadventure" was returned.

His passenger, Miss Margaret Maffett, 17, who recently returned from Spain with her family, is still unconscious in Weybridge Hospital, where she was admitted with broken thighs and wrists. She is expected to recover.

It was explained that the machine was a dual control 'plane, and that it crashed after entering a spin. It was rule of the club that when a pilot took up an unqualified passenger the controls should be disconnected.

An Air Ministry inspector told how he found marks and paint on one of the girl's shoes, from which it was obvious that she put her foot on the rudder bar pedal. His theory was that at some time during the spin she unwittingly put her foot down, and this would obstruct the pilot's recovery."

Registration G-AAJN cancelled 2.12.36 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"

By coincidence, Margaret Maffett's cousin, Lieutenant J. F. Maffett (aged 24), of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, was injured in making a forced landing in a wood near the village of Kingsbarns, East Fife, 400 miles away on the very same day. His injuries were not serious.

1. Western Daily Press - Monday 5 October 1936
2. Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Monday 5 October 1936
3. Sheffield Independent - Wednesday 7 October 1936
4. Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette - Friday 16 October 1936
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/18/C357: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576825
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AAJN.pdf
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A.html
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-brooklands-1-killed
9. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
10. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
11. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/gb-registers-g-aa/g-aa-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWFham4iXQ==
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklands#Inter-war_years_2

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Nov-2017 23:49	Dr. John Smith	Added
01-Mar-2020 02:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
21-Oct-2023 18:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]]
14-Nov-2023 17:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]