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



Date24/07/1981
CasualtiesFlt Lt S. Sparkes, A&AEE Nav
AircraftBritish Aircraft Corporation Jaguar T.2 XX916
Took off fromBoscombe Down, Wiltshire
Purpose of flightNavwass trials
Incident locationBristol Channel off Hartland Point
Incident detailsBirdstrike during trials which shattered canopy. Crew ejected into sea, pilot survived but navigator drowned.


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