Date:	Saturday 8 December 1934
Time:	afternoon
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Moth
Owner/operator:	Malling Aviation Ltd
Registration:	G-AALJ
MSN:	1087
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near West Malling, Maidstone, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	West Malling, Maidstone, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no 1087: DH.60G [Gipsy I] registered as G-AALJ [C of R 2132] 28.8.29 to The De Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd, Stag Lane, Edgware, Middlesex and used for demonstrations. C of A 2200 issued 5.9.29. Registered [C of R 2351] 12.29 to Major Albert A Nathan, Stag Lane, Edgware, Middlesex; ferried 17.12.29 by Amy Johnson to Plymouth [RAF Mount Batten]; and converted to seaplane for use in West Indies; based Port of Spain, Trinidad [probably with floats taken from Moth G-EBYV].

Entered by Major Nathan in Kings Cup Air Race 7.30 but “no show”. Registered [C of R 2937] 11.30 to James H. Pickup, Hamble, Hampshire. Reportedly operated "out east" and returned to the UK by sea as cargo, but badly damaged in the cargo hold of the steam ship en-route. Rebuilt 7.32 by National Flying Services Ltd, Hanworth as a land plane.

Re-registered [C of R 3858] 7.32 to Chandos Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 7th Marquess of Ailesbury, and The Earl of Cardigan, Marlborough, Wiltshire/Woodley, Reading, Berkshire. Re-registered [C of R 4190] 16.2.33 to Geoffrey S. Davison, Castle Bromwich, Staffordshire. Re-registered [C of R 5051] 8.5.34 to Malling Aviation Ltd, West Malling, Kent.

Crashed and written off near West Malling, Kent 8.12.34. Both persons on board - John Francis Senter (pilot) and Dennis Mabey (passenger) - survived, but were injured. A contemporary newspaper report gives further details (Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - Friday 14 December 1934):

"TONBRIDGE MAN IN ’PLANE CRASH.
MACHINE HITS HOP-POLES.
Mr. Dennis Mabey, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Mabey, of The Hermitage, East-street, Tonbridge, was a passenger in an aeroplane which crashed near West Malling on Saturday afternoon after striking the wired poles of a hop garden.

The pilot of the ’plane, Mr. John Sender, of Sandgate, received a broken leg and abrasions, but Mr. Mabey was more fortunate. He sustained slight concussion and received facial injuries, and, with the pilot, was detained in the nursing home at West Mailing."

Registration G-AALJ cancelled by the Air Ministry on 31.12.34 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"

1. Coventry Evening Telegraph - Monday 10 December 1934
2. Belfast Telegraph - Monday 10 December 1934
3. Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - Friday 14 December 1934
4. The Sphere - Saturday 15 December 1934
5. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/gb-registers-g-aa/g-aa-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWFhbGoiXQ==
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AALJ.pdf
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A.html
8. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
9. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=16622.0
10. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accb1934.htm
11. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-west-malling
12. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p010.html
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Malling#Air

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Nov-2017 21:51	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-Mar-2020 22:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
05-Nov-2023 09:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]