Thunder & Lightnings

Test Flying Memorial

"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge



Date12/10/1959
CasualtiesMr William Lewis Alford (NASA), Mr John G. Joyce (Blackburn FTO)
AircraftBlackburn Buccaneer S Mk 1 XK490
Took off fromBoscombe Down, Wiltshire
Purpose of flightAssessment of aircraft for benefit under US Mutual Defence Aid programme
Incident locationLyndhurst, Hampshire
Incident detailsNASA pilot exceeded his brief by investigating single-engine flight in low-speed blown condition which had not yet been explored by Blackburn. At 10,000ft aircraft stalled, spun and impacted ground inverted. Crew ejected too late


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