Date:	Thursday 1 February 1951
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.103 Sea Hornet F Mk 20
Owner/operator:	RNAS Culham (HMS Hornbill) RDU
Registration:	WE236
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Halton, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RNAS Culham (HMS Hornbill) near Culham, Oxfordshire.
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Sea Hornet F20 WE236: First flown at DH Chester 7.12.50 (Test flown by DH Pilot Mr J Hanslip). Delivered to the RN FAA (Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm) at RNAS Culham RDU (HMS Hornbill), Culham, Oxfordshire 22.1.51 and taken on charge.

Disintegrated on test flight Halton 1.2.51; On a test flight from RNAS Culham RDU, aircraft broke up in flight during a weather check test flight, and the wreckage hit the ground at 400 knots onto a refuse dump at RAF Halton, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area, narrowly missing a workshop, power house, and a local school. The pilot - Lieutenant Commander F S Wilkes - was killed.

Remains formally Struck Off Charge as Cat. ZZ on 1.2.51. Total flying time on airframe 4.1 hours

1. My Father was An RAF officer at Halton on duty when this accident happened. He attended the scene
2. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant. Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain, 2004 p.133)
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH103%20prodn%20list.txt
4. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1950.htm
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNAS_Culham_(HMS_Hornbill)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jun-2018 06:17	Nepa	Added
09-Nov-2020 21:01	Barry	Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative]
10-Jan-2021 18:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Jan-2021 21:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities]