Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 08/09/1953 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Flt Lt J.K. Hough AFC, RAE Farnborough TP |
| Aircraft | Bristol Sycamore Mk 1 VL963 |
| Took off from | Farnborough, Hampshire |
| Purpose of flight | not known |
| Incident location | Crashed on aborted take-off |
| Incident details | After badly executed take-off the pilot decided to land at once but the rotor struck the ground, pitching the nose forward and initiating severe bucking owing to the damaged rotor running at take-off power still. The pilot was knocked unconscious and thrown from aircraft, sustaining fatal injuries. Two other crew members included Rolls-Royce CTP survived |