ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 248984
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| Date: | Saturday 5 August 1939 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Tipsy B Trainer |
| Owner/operator: | Air Sales & Service Ltd |
| Registration: | G-AFRT |
| MSN: | 8 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Capel, 3 miles east of Tonbridge, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | Lympne Airport, Lympne, Kent (LYM/EGMK) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Tipsy B Trainer G-AFRT: First civil registered (C of R 9055/1; C of A 6574) on 4/5/1939 to Tipsy Aircraft Ltd., Slough, Berkshire. Registration cancelled/lasped 1/8/1939 upon sale.
Sold on and re-registered (C of R 9055/2) 16/8/1939 to Air Sales & Service Ltd., Bekesbourne Airfield, Canterbury, Kent. Between these two dates G-AFRT was wrecked in an accident at Capel, Kent. According to contemporary newspaper reports ("Northern Whig" - Monday 07 August 1939):
"MISHAP DURING RACE.
Trying to make a forced landing in a field during the second heat of Folkestone Aero Race at Lympne on Saturday, Squadron-Leader E. L. Mole struck a high tension cable and his plane crashed on road twenty yards in front of a bus. He had a miraculous escape from serious injury.
PETROL SUPPLY AFFECTED
Squadron-Leader Mole had just taken off from the aerodrome when something went wrong with the petrol supply. After the crash the bus driver pulled up immediately and helped the pilot from the wreckage. Territorials from Dibgate Camp assisted in clearing away the debris The pilot received an injury to the left leg, and after six stitches had been inserted he returned to the aerodrome at Lympne to assure the crowd there that he was not seriously injured".
Flight magazine, 10 August 1939 :
'On the first lap [of the Folkestone Trophy Race] Sqn. Ldr. E.L.Mole had trouble with the petrol feed in his Tipsy and near the Capel turn was forced to put down hastily in a field. Unfortunately, he did not see until the last moment that the Tipsy was heading straight for the power cables of the Grid Scheme. Actually the Tipsy struck the cables a glancing blow before running into the ground at high velocity. Fortune was with Sqn. Ldr. Mole, for the Tipsy, although rather badly damaged — it had run through a hedge into the road — did not catch fire. The pilot, however, was rather badly cut and had to have some stitches put in his leg before returning.'
According to the pilots own memoirs (Group Captain Edward Mole: 'Happy Landings', Airlife 1984):
"While on a visit to Hanworth aerodrome I met Brian Allen who had the sales agency for the Belgian 'Tipsy B'...Brian Allen asked me to demonstrate the aircraft for him that summer...
My last race that summer was a disaster. This was the Folkestone Trophy held in August, and consisted of three laps around a course from Folkestone to Dover over land, and thence back along the coast. Starting from Lympne airfield, I took off in the Tipsy, and, flying very low, cut between two woods en route. Suddenly, and too late, I saw what looked like hawsers stretched right across my path - these were the wires of the main electric grid which I had not noticed as the pylons bearing them were obscured behind the trees. The Tipsy hit the wires and bucked, throwing me out...
I was not too badly hurt, just bruised and with multiple abrasions. The poor little Tipsy was completely wrecked..."
Registration G-AFRT cancelled 5/11/1945 as a result of the Air Ministry census in the survival (or not) of all pre-war registered aircraft. The aircrafts registration card states "cancelled due to destruction or permament withdrawl from use of aircraft". However, the reality was somewhat different to the official record: The damaged Tipsy G-AFRT was stored in the rafters of the Tipsy Factory at Liverpool Road, on the Slough Training Estate from September 1939 until at least 1946, then...
"In 1947-48, the three part-finished airframes were lowered from the rafters and were completed. They were registered as G-AISA, G-AISB and G-AISC, their construction numbers were 17, 18 and 19 respectively. Components for two other airframes had been burnt during the harsh winter of 1946 to heat the factory and help to set glue".
It is almost certain that the damaged remains of G-AFRT were used for spare parts, and what was left was burnt at the Tipsy Factory in Slough - either in the winter 1947-48 or by 30/8/1952, when Tipsy closed down its UK Operation, and vacated the Slough Factory.
Sources:
1. Northern Whig - Monday 7 August 1939
2. Group Captain Edward Mole: 'Happy Landings' (Airlife 1984)
3. Flight magazine, 10 August 1939
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AFRT.pdf
5. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=15842.0
6. http://www.postcards-from-slough.co.uk/home/tipsy-trainer/
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A11.html
8. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/96796-clw-curlew
9. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/3865912-folkestone-trophy-race-lympne-august-1939
10. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accb1939.htm
11. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/component/content/article?id=80
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capel,_Kent
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Mar-2021 17:45 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 22-Mar-2021 17:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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