Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 24/03/1942 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Wg Cdr J.M. McGuire AFC and Bar, OC Performance Test Squadron A&AEE |
| Aircraft | Consolidated Liberator Mk II AL546 |
| Took off from | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire |
| Purpose of flight | Performance test flight involving partial climbs |
| Incident location | Lytchett Minster, Dorset |
| Incident details | Electrical faults were experienced, then the starboard outer engine overspeeded and caught fire. The crew, unable to operate the fire extinguishers, were ordered by the Wing Commander to bale out. All did so successfully just before the aircraft began to disintegrate. The Wing Commander was unable to bale out and died in the crash. |