Date:	Monday 5 February 1951
Time:	13:03 LT
Type:	Supermarine Attacker F.1
Owner/operator:	Vickers-Supermarine Aircraft Ltd
Registration:	WA477
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Woodlands Road, Minal, Axford, near Marlborough, Wiltshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	South Marston, Swindon, Wiltshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA477, C(A) Vickers-Supermarine Aircraft Ltd: Written off (destroyed) 5/2/51 when crashed on a test flight at Axford, near Marlborough, Wiltshire

WA477 was the third production Attacker, and was retained for test flying. On 5/2/51 the test flying involved a test flight proving pressurisation and effect on performance of ventral tank. On take-off puffs of black smoke were seen in jet efflux. Aircraft was next seen at high speed pulling out of a dive, then rolling inverted before impacting the ground at well over 500 m.p.h. The pilot was killed. According to the following excerpt from the obituary of the pilot:

"It was February the 5th 1951 and I was stood in the playground of Mayfield College, when a jet plane flew over, quite low, roughly from S/W to N/E and streaming extremely black smoke. Shortly after, there was a crash in the distance and it was obvious to me that the plane had crashed.

Mayfield College, was a mixed day and boarding school in Marlborough, on the A4. I had been a boarder since 1949; us boys had been boarded at St Katharine’s in Savernake Forest; the girls at Glebe House, in Minal. Sometime late in 1950, we did a swap and we found ourselves at Glebe House.

When we returned from school on that February day, we heard that a plane had crashed up the lane, which I now know as Woodlands Road. However, we were not allowed to go anywhere near there, but we were told that there was a huge crater there and the pilot was killed.

For many years, I tried to find out about the crash, even coming over to Minal from Lambourn to the Horseshoe pub, but no-one ever knew anything about it. Even the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. And, they had never heard of Mayfield College either!

I was under the impression that it was a Meteor jet that crashed, as they had a bad reputation, but no such information on line was forthcoming in that direction. Having thought for years, as I said, that it was a Meteor jet that crashed; with the information on the picture, I found out that it was indeed a Supermarine Attacker. The first prototype had first flown in 1946, but did not enter production until 1954. The RAF abandoned it, but it found favour with the Royal Navy for a short while until it was phased out in 1954. It was therefore, not a successful aircraft.

On the 5th of February 1951, Squadron Leader P.G. Robarts was flying a Supermarine Attacker F Mk1 WA477, taking off from South Marston, Wiltshire (Now the home of Honda, Swindon). This was the third production test flight, proving pressurisation and effect on performance of ventral tank.

On take-off, puffs of black smoke were seen in the jet efflux. The aircraft was next seen at high speed pulling out of a dive, then rolling inverted, before impacting the ground at well over 500 m.p.h. Peter Gerald Robarts was 35 when he died."

Crew of Attacker WA477:
Squadron Leader Peter Gerald Robarts, Supermarine Production Test Pilot

Peter Gerald Robarts' remains are laid to rest in the grounds of Lillingstone Dayrell’s St. Nicholas’ churchyard, where other members of his family are also buried.Extensive coverage of his life can be found via the British Newspaper Archives from the Buckinghamshire Advertiser & Free Press, editions 10.2.51 and 17.2.51

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.110 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 112
3. Britain’s Cold War Fighters By Tim McLelland
4. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=207
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/40: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424161
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2514: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578360
7. http://www.the-church-of-st-nicholas-de-myra.com/uncategorized/squadron-leader-peter-gerald-robarts-1915-1951/
8. Photo of gravestone: http://www.the-church-of-st-nicholas-de-myra.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Peter-Gerald-Robarts-gravestone_edited-1.jpg

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Dec-2018 17:33	TB	Added
27-Dec-2019 18:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
21-Jan-2021 21:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
05-Nov-2023 20:37	Paul Allonby	Updated [Narrative]