Date:	Monday 4 May 1936
Time:	day
Type:	Mignet HM.14 Pou-du-Ciel
Owner/operator:	Aircraft Constructions Ltd
Registration:	G-AEEW
MSN:	RGD/A/22
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Penshurst Airfield, Penshurst, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Penshurst, Kent
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
First registered [C of R 6848] on 31.3.36 as G-AEEW to Aircraft Constructions Ltd., Sidcup, Kent (aircraft based at Lympne Airport, Lympne, Ashford, Kent). No C of A issued.

Written off (destroyed) 4.5.36 when dived into the ground during initial climb out phase while giving a flying display at Penshurst Airfield, Penshurst, Kent. Pilot (and sole person on board) Flight Lieutenant Ambrose Murray Cowell (aged 27) was killed. As a result of this accident, Air Commodore Chamier, secretary of the Air League, called for the Flying Flea to be grounded pending an enquiry. According to a contemporary report in "Flight" magazine (7.5.36 page 492):

"THE second fatal accident involving a Pou-du-Ciel in this country occurred at Penshurst last Monday, when Flt. Lt. A. M. Cowell lost his life. He had reached a height of 300-400 feet, when the machine went into a dive from which, apparently, the pilot was unable to extricate it.

Fit. Lt. Cowell was formerly a Short Service Officer in the R.A.F. After leaving the service he was in Sir Alan Cobham's displays, and last autumn he joined the Air League of the British Empire as the League's official test pilot for the Pou du-Ciel.

Cowell had accumulated considerable experience piloting the Pou, and was always very careful over checking rigging and centre of gravity position before taking the machines up. On this occasion, it is understood, he tested the machine first in straight flight and found it satisfactory. Air Commodore Chamier, of the Air League, has applied to the Air Ministry for the grounding of all Pou-du-Ciel pending an enquiry"

Following the above crash, and also as a result of the expiry of the lease on the land, Penshurst Airfield closed on 28.7.36. In 1938, the airfield was converted to a polo ground by the Eridge Polo Club. It re-opened during the Second World War as an Emergency Landing Ground, RAF Penshurst. As well as serving in this role, it was mainly used by Air Observation Post (AOP) squadrons of the Royal Air Force. The airfield finally closed on 13.5.46.

Registration G-AEEW cancelled by the Air Ministry 2.7.36 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft"

1. Sudden Dive Of "Flying Flea" Test Pilot Killed, Suspension Of Flying Recommended". News. The Times (47366). London. 5 May 1936. col C, p. 10.
2. Dundee Evening Telegraph - Thursday 07 May 1936
3. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
4. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AEEW.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A8.html
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
7. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%202116.html?search=penshurst
8. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%201189.html
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penshurst_Airfield
10. http://www.leighhistorical.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Leigh_at_War.pdf
11. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13673.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Jan-2018 19:59	Dr. John Smith	Added
23-Jan-2018 20:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
01-Apr-2020 20:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]