Date:	Tuesday 10 September 1957
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hunter F Mk 5
Owner/operator:	34 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WP144
MSN:	S4/U/3023
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	East Stratton, 8 miles NE of Winchester, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hawker Hunter F.5 WP144 ["X"], 34 Squadron, RAF: Written off when collided with Whirlwind HAS.7 helicopter XK908 of 700 NAS, Royal Navy. The Whirlwind was operating below its authorised height and was spotted by the Hunter pilot - Flying Officer Brian John Stephens (Service Number 4158228) - at the last moment. He took violent evasive action but the underside of the Hunter struck the helicopter which crashed at East Stratton, near Winchester, Hampshire killing both crew.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Coventry Evening Telegraph" - Wednesday 11 September 1957):

COVENTRY ENGINEER KILLED IN AIR COLLISION
HELICOPTER DUTY FLIGHT
A COVENTRY engineer was one of two people killed in a helicopter which collided in mid-air with a Hunter jet fighter, near Winchester yesterday. The Pilot of the fighter used his ejector seat and parchuted to safety.

The dead were Mr. Cyril Waine, aged 53, of "The Limes," 33, Duggin's Lane, Tile Hill, senior service liaison engineer with Alvis Ltd., Coventry, a passenger in the Naval helicopter returning to its base at Lee-on-Solent, and the pilot Lieutenant John P. Eynon, of Wales.

Mr. Waine was attached to the base at Lee-on-Solent. Earlier in the day he had flown in the helicopter, a Whirlwind, from Lee-on-Solent to Baginton aerodrome, Coventry, and it was on the return flight when the accident occurred. A spokesman for Alvis Ltd., who make helicopter engines, said to-day : "We are liaising with the Navy on this helicopter engine and Mr. Waine was flying in the normal course of his duties."

Mr. Waine, who was born in Lancashire, came to Coventry 21 years ago to join Alvis. As a liaison engineer for the firm he has travelled all over the world for them in the course of his work. He leaves a widow.

Both machines crashed in open country near the Basingstoke-Winchester road near East Stratton. The helicopter caught fire and the fighter broke into pieces.

Ankle Injuries
Part of it fell behind cottages in the village and another part, blazing fiercely, narrowly missed a pen of sheep and a shepherd's hut. Wreckage was strewn over a wide area.

The helicopter fell among trees and started a small fire among them.

The fighter pilot was Flying Officer Brian John Stephens, of Gillingham, Kent. After the crash he telephoned his station at Tangmere, Sussex, and was taken to hospital with ankle injuries. Group Captain Edwards. of 34 Squadron, Tangmere, said at Winchester after the crash that his information was that the collision was at about 3.000 ft. and that the helicopter was flying at above normal height for the type of machine.

A spokesman for Alvis Ltd. said later that the helicopter was flying at 800 ft. under a cloud base of 1,300 ft. The statement that the helicopter was flying much higher was incorrect, he added".

The Hunter pilot blacked out and recovered to find the aircraft in a spin. He ejected just before it exploded. The Whirlwind wreckage was allocated to ground instruction at Arbroath as A2442

The reported crash location of East Stratton is an estate village in the parish of Micheldever at the entrance to the landscaped grounds of Stratton Park, some eight miles northeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England at approximate coordinates 51.1572°N 1.2267°W

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.192 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 81)
3. Western Mail - Wednesday 11 September 1957
4. Coventry Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 11 September 1957
5. Coventry Evening Telegraph - Friday 13 September 1957
6. Birmingham Daily Post - Saturday 28 September 1957
7. Coventry Evening Telegraph - Thursday 28 November 1957
8. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14863.0
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WP
10. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194235/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1957.htm#sep
11. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
12. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Stratton
14. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/3860316-hunter-whirlwind-mid-air-collision-1957

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2009 11:55	ASN archive	Added
21-Mar-2012 10:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Aug-2012 02:58	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
26-Jan-2020 18:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Jan-2020 18:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
26-Jan-2020 22:45	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
18-Feb-2020 22:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]