Date:	Thursday 20 September 1928
Time:	day
Type:	Parnall Pipit Prototype
Owner/operator:	Parnall Aircraft Ltd
Registration:	N232
MSN:	1
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Martlesham Heath, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The Parnall Pipit was a single-engined, single-seat naval fighter designed to Air Ministry specification 21/26 in 1927. Two prototypes were built (N232 and N233) but both destroyed by tail flutter during test fllights

The Pipit prototype, N232, first flew sometime in the summer of 1928. In September 1928 it flew to the A&AAE at RAF Martlesham Heath for official trials. On the 20th of that month, the Pipit was put into a terminal-velocity dive during which tail flutter set in and became so violent that the tailplane spar fractured. The port tailplane folded back during a moderate dive between 1,500 and 2,000 feet. Crash-landed on rough ground at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. The aircraft was a complete write-off, but happily the pilot survived, despite a broken neck, to fly again. Pilot was Squadron-Leader Jack Noakes

1. Irish Aces of the RFC and the RAF in the First World War: The Lives Behind By Joe Gleeson
2. Wixey, Kenneth (1990). Parnall Aircraft since 1914. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-930-1.
3. http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/EwingBill/10860.htm
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnall_Pipit#Design_and_development
5. https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1929/1929%20-%201217.PDF
6. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4012067

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
12-Dec-2013 23:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
29-Dec-2014 13:50	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
19-Jun-2018 20:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
19-Jun-2018 20:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]