Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 27/09/1946 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Geoffrey R. de Havilland OBE, de Havilland Aircraft CTP |
| Aircraft | de Havilland D.H.108 TG306 |
| Took off from | Hatfield, Hertfordshire |
| Purpose of flight | Investigating aircraft's controllability close to the speed of sound at low altitude (5,000ft) in preparation for an attempt on the world speed record |
| Incident location | Egypt Bay, Thames Estuary off Kent coast |
| Incident details | Diving from 10,000ft, an airspeed of 654 m.p.h. at 5,000ft was attained but the aircraft encountered violent divergent instability and broke up, both wings detaching |