ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 233585
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| Date: | Saturday 22 September 1951 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Miles M.38 Messenger Mk 4A |
| Owner/operator: | Blackburn & General Aircraft Ltd |
| Registration: | G-ALAC |
| MSN: | RH420 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | nr St. Mary's Church, Church Rd, Stalisfield, Faversham, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Miles M.38 Messenger 4A: Ex-RAF RH420. First civilian registered (C of R R.3272/1; C of A A3272) on 2-5-51 as G-ALAC to Blackburn & General Aircraft Ltd., Brough, East Yorkshire. Had previously been flown by De Havilland Propellers and then Blackburn & General Aircraft Ltd as an engine testbed (for the Blackburn Bombardier 702) in "Class B" markings as G-2-1.
In his excellent book British Built Aircraft Vol.5 Ron Smith describes how Miles Messengers were built in Banbridge towards the end of WW2 and taken here for assembly and test flying. He says the first of these was G-ALAC which flew in August 1945. He goes on to say, “Production was moved in 1946 to a new factory at Ards Airport, Newtownwards (Belfast), run by Miles Aircraft (Northern Ireland) Ltd.”
Written off (destroyed) 22-9-51: Blackburn Aircraft owned G-ALAC was one of the competitors in the South Coast Air Race on 22 September 1951. It was flown by P.G.Lawrence, then a test pilot with Blackburn, and carried race number 38. He had to make a forced landing in the Messenger when one of the blades of its propeller came adrift in flight. He survived the landing but the Messenger was destroyed.
Sadly Lawrence's number came up less than 21 months later whilst piloting the second prototype Gloster Javelin WD808. At a height of 20,000 feet, problems with the aircraft caused it to stall. He recovered from the stall but, rather than ejecting and saving his life, Lawrence decided to stay with the aircraft and, hopefully, both save a valuable prototype and avoid collateral damage and injury on the ground by crash landing it. Sadly this time he was not as lucky as he had been at Faversham.
Registration G-ALAC cancelled 9-11-51 as "destroyed". The precise location of the forced landing was a field adjacent to St. Mary's Church, Church Rd, Stalisfield, Faversham, Kent. G-ALAC suffered damage to both wings and its propeller, nose and tail. Its remains were taken to Blackburn's airfield at Brough, where they lingered on until 1952. Subsequently they went to Wolverhampton (Pendeford) Airfield, where they were last seen in 1954.
Sources:
1. Faversham News - Friday 28 September 1951
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALAC.pdf
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17265-Miles-Messenger-did-it-serve-in-RAF-Squadron-use
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=15741.0
5. http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/LongKesh
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Mar-2020 19:50 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 18-Jul-2022 22:53 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 26-Sep-2022 22:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Jun-2023 09:47 | Nepa | Updated [[Cn, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]] |
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