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



Date18/05/1954
CasualtiesMr E. Griffiths, Armstrong Siddeley Motors CTP
AircraftWestland Wyvern S Mk 4 VZ747
Took off fromBitterswell, Warwicks
Purpose of flightEngine relight trials
Incident locationPalton, Warwicks
Incident detailsAfter three successful relights a fourth was attempted but failed. The pilot attempted to regain the airfield but broke off a turn on to finals and landed wheels-down on a field crossed by deep ditches which would have been invisible to him in the poor light. The aircraft broke up after losing its undercarriage


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