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Date: | Sunday 11 January 1981 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Fournier RF-4D |
Owner/operator: | John Roderick Cromwell Morgan, |
Registration: | G-AVWZ |
MSN: | 4032 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Category: | Accident |
Location: | near A27 Road, Shoreham Airport, Shoreham, West Sussex -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Approach |
Nature: | Private |
Departure airport: | Shoreham Airport, Shoreham, West Sussex (EGKA) |
Destination airport: | Shoreham Airport, Shoreham, West Sussex (EGKA) |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:On 11 January 1981 ownership of Fournier RF-4D G-AVWZ was registered to Lilian Holmes and Donald Bartlett. However, on that day it was being flown by John Cromwell-Morgan. On taking off from Shoreham Airfield, he believed that the Fournier was losing power and so he turned back toward the airfield. However he was so low that his starboard wing struck the ground and the Fournier crashed close to the A27. Cromwell-Morgan suffered serious injuries in the crash and was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to those injuries some three months later, on 23 April 1981.
The motor of the Fournier was tested and no mechanical fault in it could be found. An eye witness said that immediately before the crash the Fournier was being flown in a tail down attitude. It could be that if the pilot was trying to climb too steeply, the Fournier having only a 1200cc engine, the impression received may have been one of loss of power. The Fournier's registration was cancelled by the CAA as 'destroyed' on 2 February 1981.
Sources:
1. CAA: History of G-AWVZ 1967-1971:
https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AVWZ-1.pdf 2. CAA: History of G-AWVZ 1971-1981:
https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AVWZ-2.pdf 3. G-AWVZ at Southend, Essex in 1969:
https://www.prints-online.com/peter-butt-transport-collection/fournier-rf-4d-g-avwz-20028384.html 4. G-AWVZ at Sywell (EGBK) 8/9/1973:
https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/001065619.html 5.
https://southernstrut.org/newsletter/2012-2/may-2012-issue/ 6.
https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17292.0 Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
22-Nov-2020 22:29 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |