Date:	Thursday 3 February 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Boulton Paul Balliol T Mk 2
Owner/operator:	Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd
Registration:	VW897
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lawn Lane, Coven, 5 miles north of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Pendeford Airfield, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Balliol T.Mk.2 prototype VW897. Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. First flown 10 July 1948. Written off (destroyed) 3 February 1949 when crashed on a test flight. Purpose of flight: Stability trials up to the design limiting speed on prototype Mamba-powered Balliol.

VW897 was on a test flight from Bolton Paul at Pendeford Airfield, Wolverhampton when serious control problems with elevator reversal were found at 320 knots. Speed was increased to 420 knots in a dive to determine the effect that this would have, but the port windscreen side panel disintegrated and the cockpit hood burst open.

Aircraft crashed into a field off Lawn Lane, Coven, 5 miles north of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, after windscreen collapsed in high-speed dive and canopy burst, incapacitating both pilots, following a negative trim terminal velocity dive which shattered the windscreen. Their loss and the subsequent investigation brought about a complete revision of the rules and specifications for the design of post-World War 2 windscreens. Aircraft dived into ground, both pilots killed

Pilot: Mr Robert Lindsay Neale, Boulton Paul Chief Test Pilot, aged 37
Second Pilot: Mr Peter H. Tisshaw, Boulton Paul Test Pilot. aged 25

Robert Neal had been the company's test pilot during the war and was involved with the development of the Boulton Paul Defiant.

Coven is a village in the district of South Staffordshire, England, near to the border with Wolverhampton. Together with Brewood it forms part of the parish of Brewood & Coven.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.85. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.471
3. The Boulton Paul Balliol: The Last Merlin-Powered Aircraft by Alec Brew
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/29/W2438: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578284
5. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=188
6. https://sharehistory.org/janes/uploads/1293-balliol-t2
7. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/nwcrashes1945-52.htm
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coven,_Staffordshire

Boulton Paul Balliol T.2 VW897 on test flight in 1948

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Dec-2019 02:52	Dr. John Smith	Added