ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 202712
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| Date: | Saturday 23 May 1936 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.60G Moth |
| Owner/operator: | South Coast Flying Club |
| Registration: | G-ABWL |
| MSN: | 1896 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Lancing Hill, near Shoreham, West Sussex, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | Shoreham, West Sussex (ESH/EGKA) |
c/no 1896: DH.60G [Gipsy I] allocated to DH Experimental Dept (purpose unknown). First Registered as G-ABWL [C of R 3735] 30.4.32 to Brooklands Aviation Ltd; operated by Brooklands School of Flying Ltd, Brooklands Aerodrome, West Byfleet, Weybridge, Surrey. C of A 3446 issued 10.5.32.
Re-registered [C of R 4270] 20.3.33 to Brooklands Flying Club Ltd, Brooklands. Re-registered [C of R 6787] 2.3.36 to [subsidiary] South Coast Flying Club, Shoreham, West Sussex
Written off (destroyed) when spun in from 3,000 feet and crashed at Lancing Hill, near Shoreham, West Sussex 23.5.36; pilot Hugh G Aitchison badly injured. Empire Air Day, Saturday 23rd May 1936, and large crowds had gathered at Brighton Airport (Shoreham) to view the flying - they were treated to more than they expected when an unlicensed pilot, Mr. H. G. Aitchison, took off from nearby in De Havilland Moth G-ABWL without permission, and proceeded to carry out some aerobatics in full view of the crowds. Several loops at around 1500 feet, then he climbed to 3,000 feet and purposely put the aircraft into a spin. The aeroplane, as it descended, appeared to be spinning normally and there was no change in its attitude or speed of rotation to suggest that any attempt was being made by the pilot to effect recovery. The machine continued to spin until it impacted the ground. Aitchison was seriously injured, though very fortunate to survive at all.
The pilot had been a pupil at the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1931, and had twice been rejected by the Royal Air Force Reserve due to his eyesight, and he was due to appear before the Central Medical Board in June 1936 to see if his eyesight was good enough for him to hold a civilian 'A' licence. After examination of the wreckage found no obvious faults with what was left of G-ABWL, and on hearing from the last man to fly it before the crash, the AAIB came to the conclusion that the accident probably happened due to the pilot's defective eyesight, and he had misjudged the height above ground
It would appear that the Moth crashed onto Lancing Hill, to the north of the aerodrome and to the west of Lancing College, which is 81 metres (approx. 266 feet) higher than the aerodrome. Even if Aitchison was watching his altimeter, he would have been cutting it extremely fine to try to pull out of a spin at an altitude of only 265 feet.
According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Aberdeen Journal" - Monday 25 May 1936)
"MACHINE ALTIMETER MISSING.
Air Ministry officials are puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of the altimeter from the aeroplane which crashed behind Lancing College, Shoreham, Sussex, on Saturday afternoon, when Mr Hugh Graham Aitchison, the pilot, was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The wreckage of the plane lay behind Lancing College on Saturday night. Yesterday morning Shoreham Airport officials saw the altimeter among the debris. Large crowds of sightseers visited the scene and looked at the wreckage, which was taken to Shoreham Airport for examination. It was then found that the altimeter was missing."
Registration G-ABWL cancelled by Air Ministry after annual census 31.12.38.
(Evidently Hugh Aitchison survived this crash and achieved his goal of becoming a service pilot despite his eyesight. On 29 September 1939 his profession is recorded as a naval pilot, single, living at 73 Railway Junction Hotel, Southampton Road, Eastleigh. On 1 May 1940 he was a Sub-Lieutenant (Air) in the RNVR, giving his address as Hillside, Collington Grove, Bexhill-on-Sea. Later that month he was at Golspie, Sutherland, where he died whilst flying RNAS Hatston-based D.H.87 Hornet Moth P6787 on a communications flight on 28 May 1940. Whilst he is buried in Oxford, his death is commemorated on the civic and parish war memorials at Bexhill-on-Sea).
Sources:
1. Aberdeen Journal - Monday 25 May 1936
2. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-gb-registers-g-ab/g-ab-part-2?highlight=WyJnLWFid2wiXQ==
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ABWL.pdf
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A3.html
5. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/18/C342: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576810
7. G-ABWL at Brooklands 5.11.32: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/stills/remember-remember-the-fifth-of-november
8. https://baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-lancing-hill
9. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=882.0
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_City_Airport#Inter-war_period
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Dec-2017 23:18 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 29-Feb-2020 18:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Feb-2020 18:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2023 11:14 | Nepa | Updated [[Narrative]] |
| 19-Nov-2023 17:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
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