Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 26/09/1949 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Sqn Ldr P.G. Evans DFC, B Squadron A&AEE TP; Flt Lt I.P. Bishop DFC; Fg Off R. Hodge |
| Aircraft | Handley Page Hastings C Mk 1 TG499 |
| Took off from | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire |
| Purpose of flight | The Hastings was fitted with a very large under-fuselage cargo pannier (the 'Pantechnicon') and this was the first flight test of the device |
| Incident location | Beacon Hill, Wiltshire |
| Incident details | After take-off, at 4,000ft the nose of the pannier collapsed inwards and the whole broke away from the aircraft, striking the starboard tailplane, half of which broke away. The aircraft crashed out of control |