Date:	Friday 26 June 1942
Time:	11:34
Type:	Fairey Firefly Mk I
Owner/operator:	Fairey Aviation Co Ltd
Registration:	Z1827
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Near Heathrow Airport -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Great Western (Heathrow) Aerodrome
Destination airport:	Great Western (Heathrow) Aerodrome

Narrative:
The pilot, Fairey's Chief Test Pilot, Flt Lt (ret) Christopher Stainbank STANILAND (07 Oct 1905-26 Jun 1942), took off from Heathrow at 11:10am to complete contractor flight trials and further investigate general flight characteristics.

At approximately 11:30am, eyewitnesses on the ground saw the aircraft in the South Reading district at an estimated altitude of between 9,000 and 12,000 feet, "undulating fore and aft", with the oscillations continuing for about two minutes before it made a turn to starboard. It then dived vertically at high speed with engine on and "spinning slowly around its longitudinal axis".

At about 6,000 feet, the engine stopped and the aircraft came out of the dive, appearing to climb again. However, witnesses then saw pieces of the aircraft structure falling to the ground, followed by a steep bank to port, and then to starboard. The aircraft then developed a flat spin which continued until it hit the ground.

Although Staniland had jettisoned the cockpit hood, he did not abandon the aircraft and was killed. On subsequent examination, it was found his Sutton harness was still intact.

The aircraft was the second prototype of the Firefly that Fairey Aviation had built, and it was first flown on 29 May 1942. The total airframe flying hours at the time of the accident were 9 hours 30 mins. Staniland had logged 3,548 flying hours by the time of his death, which included 66 hours 40 minutes on the type. The weather was good and was not considered a factor in the accident. A post mortem was unable to detect any evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning.

During the investigation, outer portions of both wings (incl ca one third of port mainplane), ailerons, tailplane, elevators, dinghy stowage cover, dinghy tray, and top horn of the rudder were found to be missing. Most were recovered in the surrounding areas at distances of 400 yards to three-quarters of a mile south of the crash site, and "from this it was obvious that a structural failure in the air had occurred".

Although the accident investigation report does not contain a concluding paragraph, the pilot's notes revealed that the initial oscillations observed by witnesses on the ground were intentional. With the weather and carbon monoxide poisoning both ruled out as a caused, the implication is that structural failure was the cause of the accident.

Note 1: All above quotations are from the accident investigation report (see Source 1, below)
Note 2: See also Incident Fairey TSR.1 F1875, 11 Sep 1933, https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=236493

1. Air Ministry and Successors: Civil Aviation Accident Reports (C, W, and S Reports) and Technical Memoranda, UK National Archives, TNA AVIA 5/21/W1265
2. Derby Daily Telegraph, 27 Jun 1942
3. Flight International magazine, 02 Jul 1942
4. Gloucester Citizen, 27 Jun 1942
5. Gloucestershire Echo, 27 Jun 1942
6. Hull Daily Mail, 27 Jun 1942
7. Illustrated London News, 04 Jul 1942 (incl photo of pilot)
8. Nottingham Evening Post, 27 Jun 1942
9. Daily Telegraph, 30 Jun 1942
10. The Times, 29 Jun 1942
11. Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21383345/christopher-staniland# (rtrvd Jun 22)
12. Motor Sport magazine, edition of Aug 1942, pp 166-167, ‘Rumblings; Chris Staniland’, https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-1942/13/rumblings-august-1942 (rtrvd Jun 22)
13. Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers, ‘Flt Lt Christopher Stainbank Staniland 1905-1942’, http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2008/05/flt-lt-christopher-stainbank-staniland.html (rtrvd Jun 22)

Attachments provided for ASN verification of details, and are not intended for reproduction.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jun-2022 08:53	Steve Brew	Added