Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 22/06/1948 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Lt-Cdr T.J.A. King Joyce RN, C Squadron A&AEE TP |
| Aircraft | Supermarine Attacker TS413 |
| Took off from | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire |
| Purpose of flight | Measured take-off, stability, climb stalling speed and stick forces per g at 30,000ft trials with 270gal ventral tank fitted. Also investigation of Mach number effect at Mach 0.79 at 20,000ft |
| Incident location | Durrington, Amesbury, Wiltshire |
| Incident details | Aircraft crashed 57min after take-off probably owing to rudder overbalance with ventral tank fitted. The pilot had jettisoned the tank but the aircraft immediately bunted throwing the pilot against the canopy roof, which shattered |