Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 08/06/1951 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Lt-Cdr (E) D.K. Hanson |
| Aircraft | Westland Wyvern TF Mk 2 VW869 |
| Took off from | Boscombe Down, Wiltshire |
| Purpose of flight | Air test following propeller change and reported vibration |
| Incident location | Seven Barrows, Wiltshire |
| Incident details | 45min after take-off canopy imploded, canopy rails seperated and struck fin, causing structural failure. Gyroscopic forces from violent yawing motion caused contra-rotating props to contact each other and engine was ripped from the airframe. Pilot ejected but was severely injured by the control column as his seat left the aircraft, and was unable to operate the seat release or parachute. Killed when seat struck the ground. Wyverns grounded afterwards until automatic seperation was introduced to their ejection seats. |