ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 201274
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| Date: | Thursday 16 April 1936 |
| Time: | 15:00 LT |
| Type: | Hawker Hart |
| Owner/operator: | 7 FTS RAF |
| Registration: | K4986 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF Peterborough, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Peterborough, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Written off (destroyed) 16.4.36: Crashed into hangar after loop, at RAF Peterborough, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Both crew of Hart K4986 - Flt Lt Ernest Dawson (pilot aged 36) and AC1 Harold Edward Smith-Langridge (air gunner, aged 19) - were killed. In addition, two RAF personnel working in the hangar that the Hart crashed into also died. L/AC Percy Cuthbert (aged 26) was killed immediately in the impact, and L/AC Stanley Arthur Rollason King (28) died the next day (17.4.36). According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser - Wednesday 22 April 1936)
"WARPLANE LOOP TRAGEDY. FOUR VICTIMS OF CRASH. 'PLANE FIRES HANGAR. DRAMATIC EVIDENCE AT INQUEST.
An officer and two men of the R.A.F. were killed in an accident at No. 7 Flying Training School, Westwood, Peterborough, on Thursday. They were Flight Lieutenant Ernest Dawson, Leading Aircraftman Percy Cuthbert, and Aircraftman (First Class) Harold Eric Smith-Langridge. It appears that the aircraft was one of three which left the aerodrome about 3 p.m. Two returned, and the leading machine, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Dawson, who had Smith-Langridge as a passenger, began to carry out formation loops.
EYE-WITNESS'S STORY.
According to an eye-witness, it was pulling out of a loop when it struck the ground, dashed across the tar macadam surface of the aerodrome, and struck a hangar. There was a report and the 'plane burst into flames. The hangar also caught alight, and only the skeleton remained. Damage was also done to four or five machines in the hangar. Cuthbert and Leading Aircraftman S. A. R. King were in the hangar when the crash occurred. Both were taken to Peterborough Hospital, where Cuthbert died shortly after admittance. Flight-Lieutenant Dawson was 36 and lived at Broadway, Peterborough. His wife gave birth to a daughter two days ago. The news of his death is being kept from her. Leading Aircraftman Smith-Langridge's home was in Bute-road, Wallington.
THE FOURTH DEATH.
Just before the inquest was opened at Peterborough on Friday on the three victims of the R.A.F. 'plane crash at No. 7 Flying School, Westwood, on Thursday, a fourth man died in hospital. He was Leading Aircraftsman Stanley Arthur Rollason King, of Ramsgate. He died, after an operation, of a fractured skull. The Peterborough Coroner, Mr. W. B. Buckle, returning a verdict of "Accidental death" in the four cases, said each man died doing his duty. Flying-Officer Ernest Bruce Harvey, medical officer at Westwood aerodrome, stated that Flight-Lieut. Dawson and Smith-Langridge each had a fractured skull, and had been extensively burned. Death was instantaneous.
TWO 'PLANES IN LOOP.
Corpl. Kenneth Dring said he was booking flying times when two aeroplanes came out of a loop, circled the aerodrome, and began another loop in front of the hangar at about 300 ft. He added - "As it was flattening out, the under-carriage of the leading machine - Flight-Lieut. Dawson's — struck the ground in front of the hangar. It appeared to bounce once, and then shot inside at a terrific speed. King and Cuthbert were standing in the mouth of the hangar. They ran to get out of the way, but were not quick enough. They appeared to have been struck by the starboard wing tip, and were thrown to the ground."
Corpl. Dring said, in reply to the Coroner, that he was not qualified to say whether 300ft would be a reasonable height at which to loop.
The Coroner: Do you think there was any very great margin between what would have been a safe ending to the manoeuvre and this present disastrous one?
I think a foot would have made all the difference. It was very nearly perfect."
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 38)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
3. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=4740.0
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?314-RAF-officer-deaths-1-1-29-3-9-39
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Nov-2017 00:07 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 23-Dec-2017 18:11 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
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