Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 19/04/1937 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | AC G.P. Smurthwaite, Obs |
| Aircraft | Vickers Wellington prototype K4049 |
| Took off from | Martlesham Heath |
| Purpose of flight | Diving trials |
| Incident location | Waldringfield, Suffolk |
| Incident details | During trials the horn balance on one side of the elevator detached and the whole control surface followed causing the aircraft to bunt, throwing the pilot, who survived using his parachute, through the cockpit roof. The observer died in the crash |