Date:	Thursday 13 November 1919
Time:	11:45 LT
Type:	Alliance P.2 Seabird
Owner/operator:	Alliance Aeroplane Co Ltd
Registration:	G-EAOX
MSN:	P.2
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Surbiton, Surrey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, Hounslow, Middlesex
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The Alliance P.2 Seabird was a British single-engined long-range biplane designed by J.A. Peters to enter the Daily Mail £10,000 Atlantic Flight Prize. In the end it did not compete but became the first aircraft to fly from London (Acton) to Madrid non-stop on 31 July 1919

The Seabird was a long-range two-seat biplane powered by a 450 hp (336 kW) Napier Lion piston engine. With an endurance of 21 hours it had an enclosed cabin for the crew of two and two aircraft were built

On 17 April 1919 Peters the designer paid the £100 entrance fee to the Royal Aero Club as entry fee for the Alliance biplane into the competition for the Daily Mail £10,000 Atlantic Flight Prize. Flown by Peters with Captain W.R. Curtis of the Royal Air Force the first Seabird (registration G-EAGL) carried out a trial flight on 31 July 1919 when it made the first direct non-stop flight between London and Madrid, 900 miles in just under eight hours. The aircraft did not in the end compete in the Atlantic competition.

The second aircraft G-EAOX was entered into an Australian Government prize of £10,000 for a flight from Great Britain to Australia. Flown by two Australian airmen, Lieutenant Roger Douglas (pilot) and Lieutenant J.S.L. Ross (Navigator), G-EAOX left Hounslow Heath Aerodrome on 13 November 1919 but a few minutes into the flight the Seabird crashed near Surbiton killing both airmen. There was a contemporary report in Flight magazine, 20 November 1919:

'It is with great regret that we have to record the fatal termination to the third attempt to fly to Australia for the Australian Government's prize of £10,000. The Alliance machine, fitted with 450 h.p. Napier engine, piloted by Lieut. Roger Douglas, M.C., with Lieut. J.S.L. Ross as navigator, left Hounslow at 11.33a.m. on November 13. The machine passed over Teddington very low, and when over Surbiton, it suddenly came out of the clouds in a spin and nose-dived to earth. Lieut. Douglas was killed instantaneously, and Lieut. Ross died in a few minutes after the accident. At the inquest on November 17, evidence was given which showed that the controls and the engine were in good order, and a verdict of "Accidental death" was returned .'

The company never recovered from the accident and was closed down in 1920.

1. Jackson, A.J. (1973). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.
2. Atlantic Airmen Still Waiting - Another Entry". News. The Times London. 19 April 1919. col E, p. 11.
3. "D. Napier & Son, Ltd". Display Advertising. The Times London. 20 September 1919. col F, p. 5.
4. "Two Airmen Killed. Crash Just After Start For Australia". News. The Times London. 14 November 1919. col B, p. 9.
5. Flight 15 May 1919, p. 636.
6. "New Arrivals For The Atlantic Flight - The Alliance Entry". The Times London. 10 May 1919. col C, p. 11.
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_P.2_Seabird
8. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/alliance_seabird.php
9. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EAOX.pdf
10. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accb1929.htm
11. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/9-races/53-the-greatest-air-race-england-to-australia-1919

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Mar-2020 00:15	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Mar-2020 00:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]