Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 14/04/1942 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Wg Cdr P.S. Salter, OC Handling Flight; Sqn Ldr J.D. Harris DFC; Flt Lt N.G. Wilson; Fg Off E.F. Wakelin; Sgt K.J. Jones |
| Aircraft | Avro Lancaster Mk I R5539 |
| Took off from | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire |
| Purpose of flight | Performance test flight involving high-speed dives from 13,000ft, three at one-third throttle, three at full throttle |
| Incident location | Charlton, Malmesbury |
| Incident details | After 1½hr the aircraft was seen to pull out of a dive and to roll inverted. After recovery to normal flight a large section of the port top wing skin detached. The aircraft dived into the ground |