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



Date09/10/1950
CasualtiesFlt Lt E.B. Churchill, Air Torpedo Development Unit TP
AircraftFairey Swordfish Mk 3 NR933
Took off fromCuldrose, Cornwall
Purpose of flightExperimental torpedo trials in clear weather. The aircraft was ditched following an emergency call but there were delays on the Scillies and at Culdrose and Churchill was not recovered.
Incident locationWoolf Rock, off Lands End, Cornwall
Incident detailsEn route to Scilly ranges pilot radioed that he was ditching 15 miles east of the islands. Despite an exhaustive search by many aircraft and rescue agencies, no trace was ever found


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