ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 270790
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| Date: | Sunday 3 June 1934 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  De Havilland DH-60X Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Michael Cipriani |
| Registration: | VP-TAA |
| MSN: | 859 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Brasso Seco, El Chiquero, Northern Range, Tobago -
 Trinidad and Tobago
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Mucurapo , Trinidad, West Indies |
| Shirvan Park, Tobago, West Indies |
c/no. 859: DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I #70, amended to #26] to DH Canada with C of A 1656 issued 25.10.28; dd DHC at Mount Dennis 14.11.28. Registered as G-CAVW [C of R 532] 26.11.28 to G N Irwin, Whitby, Ontario [new C of R 666 issued 6.7.29 on change of category from "private" to "commercial"]. Re-registered [C of R 666] 6.2.30 to G W Miles, Toronto. Fitted with Cirrus Hermes I [4.30] for racing purposes and named "Red Elephant"; painted as "GC-AVW". Fitted with coupe top 5.31 [but removed by 11.31]. Sold 12.6.31 (but not re-registered) to Aero Engines of Canada Ltd, Montreal.
Re-registered [C of R 1029] 5.8.31 to E R Lickfold & Michael Cipriani, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Regn lapsed 25.6.32 (but possibly restored). Flown in Trinidad as G-CAVW late summer 1931 (as only privately registered aircraft in the British West Indies' one source - see below - states from 19.9.31). Canadian Registration G-CAVW cancelled 30.3.35. Re-registered in Trinidad as VP-TAA to Edmund Lickfold and Mikey Cipriani, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and renamed "Humming Bird"
Written off (destroyed) 3.6.34: Crashed at El Chiquero in the Northern Range between Mucurapo, Trinidad, and Shirvan Park, Tobago. Both persons on board - Michael Cipriani (aged approx. 42*) and passenger Bradshaw - were killed.
According to one published source (see link #9):
"The first Trinidadians to ever own a plane were Edmund Lickfold and Mikey Cipriani. Their de Havilland Moth airplane was first tried out on the 19th September 1931, and was christened ‘Humming Bird’. Cipriani and Lickfold did hundreds of joy-flights for passengers who were curious to see parts of Trinidad from above, and they gave flying lessons at Piarco. Mikey and his plane became a familiar sight for Trinidadians, inspiring the imagination of little boys, who upon sighting the ‘Humming Bird’ instantly turned into courageous pilots, flying paper planes and roaring through the clouds in respectable drawing rooms.
From 1932 onwards, the ‘Humming Bird’ also flew to other Caribbean islands. Tobago, however, had no suitable airstrip for Cipriani to land. On the 3rd June 1934, Mikey decided to try Shirvan Park as a suitable landing field in Tobago. In bad weather, he lost his way in the Northern Range and crashed in the forest of El Chiquero".
Another source states:
"Michael Cipriani was a Trinidad and Tobago aviation pioneer, cyclist, footballer, and cricketer. He played in two first-class matches for Trinidad and Tobago in 1911/12 and 1912/13. Cipriani died in a plane crash on June 3, 1934, while flying from Mucurapo to Tobago. His body was found near Brasso Seco after the crash"
Some "mangled parts" later recovered and on display [in 2002] at Chaguaramas Military History & Aerospace Museum, Trinidad.
Note that some published sources give the fate of Moth VP-TAA as "lost at sea" off the northern coast of Trinidad. *Also, the age of Mickey Cipriani is given as 41, 42, and 43 in various published sources: the inscription on his grave marker gives a date of birth as "1891", so 42 years of age.
Sources:
1. Trinidad and Tobago Express (4 June 2012): https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/pilot-mikey-ciprianidies-in-plane-crash/article_809fd7aa-f857-5fae-8182-eb5a2cac866e.html.
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p008.html
3. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
4. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-other-registers/vo-vp-vr?highlight=WyJnLWNhdnciXQ==
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VP-T.html
6. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/255535613/michael-cipriani
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60x-moth-el-chiquero-2-killed
8. https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/812515
9. http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Tucuche
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 16-Dec-2021 08:55 | Ron Averes | Added |
| 30-Dec-2021 05:07 | Ron Averes | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 02-Jan-2022 03:26 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 30-Apr-2022 06:58 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
| 07-Nov-2023 08:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
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