Date:	Monday 26 May 1919
Time:	day
Type:	Tarrant Tabor
Owner/operator:	W.G.Tarrant
Registration:	F1765
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	R.A.E Farnborough, Farnborough, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Aerodrome (FAB/EGLF)
Destination airport:	Farnborough Aerodrome (FAB/EGLF)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The Tabor was an all-wood triplane bomber originally intended to carry bombs to the German capital, Berlin. After the Armistice of Nov.1918 the construction of the prototype was continued with the intention of producing the Tabor as an airliner.

With a wingspan of 131 feet, 3 inches (40.02 metres) and powered by six 450 h.p. Napier Lion water-cooled engines, four tractor and two pusher, it was for a brief period the largest aircraft in the world.

Only a single prototype was constructed and it crashed on its very first take off, resulting in the project being abandoned.

Pilots: Captain PT Rawlings DSC was killed in the accident and Captain FG Dunn AFC died as the result of his injuries three days later.
R.I.P.

According to a contemporary report ("Flight Magazine" - May 29th, 1919):

"AFTER months of painstaking work, and having solved an endless succession of constructional problems those responsible for the large Tarrant "Tabor" triplane, have suddenly seen the results of their labours annihilated in the course of a few minutes by the accident which occurred on Monday last. Not only is the beautiful structure, for beautiful it was from a constructional point of view, whatever may have been one's opinion of the design, reduced to matchwood, but at least one of the men who had worked on the machine from the time of its inception has succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident, while a second man, the pilot, is lying in a critical condition. We are sure that all readers of FLIGHT will join us in expressing our sympathy with the relatives of Capt. Rawlings, D.S.C., who died shortly after the accident, and with Capt. Dunn, A.F.C., who is still, at the time of writing, in a very critical condition.

To Mr. W. G. Tarrant we also express our sincerest sympathy in the misfortune that has overtaken the machine into which, with rare courage, he had put so much thought and treasure. We understand that so certain is Mr. Tarrant that his principle is right that another machine will be put in hand immediately, incorporating, it may be taken, many alterations in design, but utilising the same constructional principle.

With regard to the accident itself, it is difficult to be certain of the exact cause, but it would appear that the machine was travelling along the ground at high speed with the four lower engines running, and that, in order to get sufficient speed to rise, the pilot opened out the two top engines, which had up till then been throttled down, with the result that the extra thrust, applied so far above the centre of resistance of the machine, brought the tail up. The momentum thus imparted to the machine, especially that of the two top engines, was, at any rate momentarily, too great to be overcome by the tail planes and elevators, and the result was that the machine turned on to her nose. It is quite conceivable that had the machine been in the air the momentary pitching could have been corrected by trimming the tail, but on the ground there was no time in which to do this before the machine was over.

By keeping cool to the last, the horror of a fire was avoided by someone - probably one of the pilots, as there was a master switch in their cockpit - switching off the engines, otherwise the disaster might have been far greater than was the case. In addition to the two pilots, there were on board at the time of the accident the following :- Capt. T. M. Wilson, who, as the machine turned over, was flung into the rear part of the fuselage and sustained a broken leg; Lieut. Adams, engineer-in-charge, who accompanied Capt. Rawlings on the famous flight to Constantinople in a Handley-Page; Mr. Grosert, of the R.A.E.; two mechanics. The injuries to the crew, with the exceptions of those sustained by the pilots, are not thought to be serious."

1. Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books.
2. "Triplane Wrecked at Farnborough - Capt P.T. Rawlings Killed" (News). The Times (London). Tuesday, 27 May 1919. (42110), col D, p. 9.
3. "Tarrant Triplane Pilot's Death" (News in Brief). The Times (London). Thursday, 29 May 1919. (42112), col A, p. 9.
4. Hampshire Telegraph - Friday 30 May 1919
5. Flight Magazine - May 8th, 1919 and May 29th, 1919: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919
6. Accident to Tarrant "Tabar' triplane, 26th May 1919: report - National Archives (PRO Kew) File DSIR 23/1620 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2415841
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrant_Tabor
8. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10086.0

The sole Tarrant Tabor F1765 in May 1919 before its first flight. The sole Tarrant Tabor F1765 pictured after its crash in 1919.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Apr-2009 02:11	angels one five	Added
09-Sep-2010 20:28	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
08-Nov-2010 03:45	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
21-May-2013 03:04	angels one five	Updated [Registration, Narrative]
21-May-2013 03:04	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport]
16-Dec-2013 00:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
16-Dec-2013 00:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
14-Dec-2016 23:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
18-Feb-2020 18:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total occupants, Source, Narrative]
18-Feb-2020 18:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]
18-Feb-2020 18:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]
14-Aug-2020 19:35	angels one five	Updated [Total occupants, Narrative]