Date:	Tuesday 26 November 1935
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Moth
Owner/operator:	Dublin Air Ferries Ltd
Registration:	EI-AAW
MSN:	1849
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Groundslow Sanatorium, Tittensor, Stone, Staffordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Liverpool (Speke) Airport, Liverpool [EGGP]
Destination airport:	Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey (EGCR)

Narrative:
c/no 1849: DH.60G [Gipsy II] to DH South Africa with C of A 3119 issued 8.7.31. Registered as South Africa as ZS-ADB [C of R 81] 24.8.31 to Victor C Smith. Flown to UK by Victor C Smith, departing Cape Town 12.11.32 [or 13.11.32] and arriving England 24.11.32, but forced landed in a field at Westwell near Ashford, Kent. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Dover Express" - Friday 25 November 1932):

"CAPE TO ENGLAND FLIGHT.
FORCED LANDING NEAR ASHFORD.
Mr. Victor Smith, the young South African pilot, who left Cape Town in a light aeroplane on November 13th, reached England soon after 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and made a forced landing on account of engine failure ten minutes after crossing the English coast. He had flown 6200 miles in 11½ days without any engine trouble, and had covered nearly 600 miles non-stop yesterday when a broken valve stem brought him down in field near Ashford, 60 miles short of Croydon".

Repaired and overhauled at West Malling, Maidstone, Kent and sold 1.33 to Lady Heath [Mrs George A.R. Williams]. Re-registered in the UK as G-ACBU [C of R 4063] 26.1.33 to George Anthony Reginald Williams, Heston Aerodrome, Heston, Middlesex [as nominee for the owner, Lady Heath now being a US citizen]. C of A renewed 31.1.33. Operated by Lady Heath at Iona National Airways Ltd, Kildonan with effect from 5.33. Operations taken over by Everson Flying Services 12.33. UK Registration G-ABCU cancelled as sold 2.1.34.

Registered in Ireland as EI-AAW 29.5.34 to Lady Heath, and operated by Everson Flying Services, Kildonan. Business became Dublin Air Ferries Ltd, Kildonan with effect from 19.3.35 [but name possibly used earlier].

Written off 26.11.35 when forced landed following engine fire and destroyed by fire in the grounds of Groundslow Sanatorium, Tittensor, Stone, Staffordshire. The single engine airplane departed Dublin on an air taxi flight to Croydon with an intermediate stop at Liverpool-Speke Airport, carrying one passenger and one pilot. En route to Croydon, the engine exploded and the airplane caught fire. The pilot reduced his altitude and completed a safe emergency landing. Both occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was destroyed by fire.

Crew of DH.60G Moth EA-AAW:
George Anthony Reginald Williams (pilot) unhurt
Miss Norah Marjorie Wilson (passenger) unhurt

Probable cause: Engine explosion in flight.

Groundslow Sanatorium, near Tittensor, said to have been built in 1832 as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Sutherland of the nearby Trentham Estate, it was purchased by the Staffordshire, Wolverhampton and Dudley Joint Committee for Tuberculosis in 1913 and turned into a 70-bed sanatorium for female patients. Later a mixed sanatorium, it had become a maternity hospital by 1960, finally closing its doors in 1983. The site was redeveloped 2002 as housing.

1. Dover Express - Friday 25 November 1932
2. Kentish Express - Friday 6 January 1933 (from a large article reviewing the events in Kent of 1932)
3. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-gb-registers-g-ac/g-ac-part-1?highlight=WyJlaS1hYXciXQ==
4. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ACBU.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A4.htmll
6. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
7. http://www.dehavilland.co.za/DH60_Moth_construction_numbers_and_histories.htm
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZS-.html
9. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/zs-aaa.pdf
10. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=20495.0
11. https://baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-stone
12. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accb1939.htm
13. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p018.html
14. https://www.facebook.com/staffordshire.pasttrack/posts/groundslow-sanatorium-near-tittensor-1913-1920-said-to-be-built-in-1832-as-a-hun/1525430027668175/
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tittensor

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Dec-2017 23:55	Dr. John Smith	Added
19-Sep-2022 12:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Category]
26-Oct-2023 16:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location, Source, Narrative, Category]]