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



Date05/02/1951
CasualtiesSqn Ldr P.G. Robarts, Supermarine PTP
AircraftSupermarine Attacker F Mk 1 WA477
Took off fromSouth Marston, Wiltshire
Purpose of flightThird production test flight proving pressurisation and effect on performance of ventral tank
Incident locationMarlborough, Wiltshire
Incident detailsOn take-off puffs of black smoke were seen in jet efflux. Aircraft was next seen at high speed pulling out of a dive, then rolling inverted before impacting the ground at well over 500 m.p.h.


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