Date:	Wednesday 9 November 1921
Time:	afternoon
Type:	Handley Page O/10
Owner/operator:	Handley Page Transport Ltd
Registration:	G-EATH
MSN:	HP.38
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Mersham, 3 miles east of Ashford, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	LeBourget Airport, Paris, France (LBG/LFPB)
Destination airport:	Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey (EGCR)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Handley Page O/10 G-EATH: Ex-RAF D4631 (former RAF serial number used on registration document instead of official Handley Page c/no. HP.38). First registered (C of R 525) as G-EATH on 7/5/20 to Handley Page Transport Ltd., Cricklewood, London NW.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 9/11/21: crashed at Mersham, 3 miles east of Ashford, Kent, on the afternoon of 9th November 1921. Cause was reported as due to the break up of one of the engines in flight. At the controls was Mr. R.H. McIntosh, an experienced flyer on that type. As well as his mechanic, Mr. Prendergast, G-EATH was carrying five passengers and cargo on the flight from Paris to London.

The machine left Le Bourget at 11.00 hours and passed over Lympne Aerodrome about 2.5 hours later at a low altitude. McIntosh descended to 400 feet in order to read the weather signals on the aerodrome, and then climbed the machine on full throttle and gained a few hundred feet. After throttling back to cruising speed a few miles away from Lympne the port engine reduction gear 'carried away', G-EATH swung round and lost considerable height before the pilot could bring it back under control. He rapidly picked a likely-looking field to make an emergency landing in, but didn't notice a dividing fence until he was only a few feet from touchdown.. in turning to avoid this obstacle, G-EATH landed on the starboard gear and wingtip. No one aboard the aircraft was hurt. The broken off portion of the gear case, with reduction gear and propeller boss, were found about half way between Lympne and the field.

The examination of the faulty components revealed that it had been caused by collapse of the planet wheel ball races. The opinion reached was that the standard Hoffmann ball race was unsatisfactory as a bearing for the planet wheels, and that they should be replaced with those using eleven balls.

A contemporary newspaper report gives more details ("Birmingham Daily Gazette" - Friday 11 November 1921):

"AIR MAIL MISHAP
PROPELLER AND PART OF ENGINE FALL OFF
Just after passing Lympne, while flying from Paris to London, the front portion of one of the engines of a giant Handley Page air express broke off and fell to the ground.

The machine was carrying five passengers and half-a-ton of goods (writes an air correspondent) and the pilot had brought his machine low over the coastal aerodrome at Lympne to read the ground weather signals.

He had just put his engines on full again when the front part of one, including the propeller, broke away and vanished.

During the manoeuvring of the crippled machine to land in a field the passengers, who were Spaniards making their first journey by air, rushed up and down the cabin, adding to the difficulties of the pilot by causing the aeroplane to rock.

Eventually the aeroplane landed in a field with no damage to the passengers; a portion of the undercarriage was smashed."

No fate recorded on the official registration document. However unofficial sources state that the damaged airframe was passed on to Imperial Airways, with a view to repairing the aircraft and putting it back into service. In the event, this never happened, and G-EATH seems to have been "permanently withdrawn from use by/in September 1923

1. Birmingham Daily Gazette - Friday 11 November 1921
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/3/C46: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576514
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EATH.pdf
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Type_O
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersham
6. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2607.0
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-E1.html
8. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/81-register-gb-g-ea
9. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/140343-civil-pilot-licencing-early-1920s
10. http://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/vicsmith/Accidents/Nov21.html

Handley Page O/10 G-EATH of Handley Page Transport at Dübendorf airfield near Zürich in 1921:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Mar-2020 23:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Jun-2023 20:48	Nepa	Updated