Date:	Tuesday 13 June 1933
Time:	day
Type:	Vickers 214 Vildebeest Mk VI
Owner/operator:	RAE Farnborough
Registration:	G-ABJK
MSN:	Series VI No.1
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Vickers Vildebeest G-ABJK, RAE, Farnborough: Vickers Type 214 Vildebeest Prototype modified as a Series VI with a Jupiter XFBM engine. (Hence the Air Ministry note of the c/n being "Series VI No.1".

Written off (destroyed) 13/6/33 when the Vildebeest was being flown by Flt-Lt Francis Stafford O'Hanlon when it stalled and crashed shortly after take-off. It dived onto the Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment (presumably part of the RAE) at Farnborough and caught fire on impact. The fire spread to the building, causing a conflagration. Ten soldiers were working in the building at the time. It seems that they escaped and survived. Stafford did not, but died there. According to a contemporary newspaper report (Western Daily Press - Wednesday 14 June 1933):

"R.A.F. 'PLANE FALLS ON ARMY WORKSHOP.
Doomed Pilot's Frantic Warning to Soldier.
TANK TOWED TO SAFETY.
Three hours after the accident, the ruins of a "Vildebeest" aeroplane were still smouldering at Farnborough yesterday, when it crashed on to an Army workshop and burnt out, causing the death of Flight-Lieut. Francis Stafford O'Hanlon.

Shortly after three o'clock the pilot took off from the Farnborough aerodrome to take the machine back to Messrs Vickers' works at Gosport. He had just got to the edge of the aerodrome when the machine was seen to be in difficulties over the Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment workshop adjoining the R.A.F. establishment.

The machine stalled and fell, a wing striking the shed, causing the 'plane to slew round and crash head on into the building in which about 20 men were at work.

BURST INTO FLAMES.
Directly the 'plane hit the shed it burst into flames and in a few minutes there was nothing left but a mass of broken and charred debris. The R.A.F. fire brigade were soon on the scene followed by the Aldershot fire brigade, when the flames were got under control.

Those who extricated the pilot's body said that he was probably dead before the flames enveloped him, as his head showed signs of serious injury.

Apart from that of those men in the workshop, the narrowest escape was experienced by Lance-Bombardier Wigley, of the Royal Artillery Mechanical War Experimental Establishment, who missed death by inches.

REPAIRING CYCLE.
He was repairing a motor-cycle outside the shed when the 'plane grazed him as it struck the wall. As it caught fire it scorched his neck.

Valuable material was damaged by the fire which ignited the shed, but an armoured car and tank were towed into safety.

An eye-witness said that the pilot made desperate effort to land the machine on some boggy ground close by the workshop. Seeing that he could not do so he waved frantically from the cockpit for Wigley to get out of the way. If the 'plane had landed in the bog it is probable that it would not have caught fire.

This accident makes the total number of fatalities in the R.A.F. this year 29."

NOTE: The official Air Ministry registration document states the Vickers Vildebeest G-ABJK was first registered on 10/3/31 to Vickers (Aviation) Ltd., Weybridge, Surrey. The registration was cancelled 7/4/31 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft. Hence, the above aircraft may have been flying in "Class B" markings as "O-1"

1. Report of accident: Western Daily Press - Wednesday 14 June 1933
2. Inquest into death of pilot: Gloucestershire Echo - Saturday 17 June 1933
3. http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Visschedijk/9468.htm
4. The Straits Times, 26 June 1933, Page 17 at http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19330626-1.2.115
5. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ABJK.pdf
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=16641.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-May-2018 18:36	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-Mar-2020 23:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]