Date:	Sunday 20 May 1934
Time:	day
Type:	Dunning Sailplane
Owner/operator:	Herbert J. Dunning, Southdown Gliding Club
Registration:
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	South Downs, near Lancing, West Sussex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Lancing, Sussex
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
On 20 May 1934 the Sussex Gliding Club suffered what is believed to have been its first fatal accident. The victim was Mr John Lawford. He had been a founder member of the Southdown Skysailing Club and later became a member of the Southern Counties Soaring Club and then the Southdown Gliding Club (as each club succeeded the other). He was flying a primary glider built by another club member, Mr H.J.Dunning of Worthing (although this seems to have been a rebuild of a Cloudcraft Dickson primary glider, rather than an entirely new design and/or build), whose wing struck the ground in a steep, low altitude turn shortly after an auto launch (presumably a reference to the glider being launched by a winch attached to a converted motor vehicle). Mr Lawford suffered severe injuries, from which he died the next day (21 May 1934)

Like the primary glider of the Southdown Gliding Club that was involved in a fatal crash at Friston after the war, this glider did not have a BGA certificate of airworthiness. In its subsequent report the BGA was not complimentary about the amateur construction of the glider, but said that no structural issues contributed to the accident. The cause of this was attributed to pilot error combined with an inability to exercise full aileron control due to the cramped nature of the cockpit (this was within a nacelle, which presumably was added by Mr Dunning in the course of his rebuild as the Cloudcraft Dickson primary glider had an open cockpit permitting unrestricted movement of the control column).

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Sussex Express" - Friday 25 May 1934):

"GLIDING ACCIDENT.
Waldron Farmer Killed.
Piloting a glider on the Downs near Lancing on Sunday, Mr. John Ashton Lawford, a farmer, of Waldron, met with disaster. The glider was going at the rate of 35 miles an hour, when it nose dived and crashed to the ground. It was seen at once that Mr. Lawford was seriously injured, and he was taken to Southlands Hospital, Shoreham, where he died on Monday evening.

Mr. Lawford, who was 34 years of age, was a member of the Southdown Gliding Club, and had conducted flights for several years. He held the soaring pilots' certificate.

On Sunday, having tried the glider, he went for a flight, but the machine apparently got into difficulty with the air currents, and it came rapidly to the ground. The glider belonged to a Worthing member of the club.

A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned at the inquest on Wednesday, much sympathy being expressed for the deceased's relatives".

1. Sussex Express - Friday 25 May 1934
2. The Sailplane & Glider of June 1934
3. Ellison, Norman (1971). British Gliders and Sailplanes. London: A & C Black Ltd. p.106. ISBN 978-0-7136-1189-2
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10435.0
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudcraft_Dickson_Primary#Operational_history
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-May-2018 18:56	Dr. John Smith	Added
20-Feb-2020 17:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]