West Sussex

The aircraft was owned by Sir William Firth but this day piloted by Ken Firth and Jimmy Gunn. On approach to Shoreham Aerodrome, the aircraft was too low and collided with an 11,000 volts power line. It stalled and crashed in a field in Upper Beeding, some 3 km north of the airfield. Both occupants evacuated the cabin and were uninjured. The aircraft was destroyed.

The pilot was performing a night solo training flight at RAF Tangmere. Following several touch & go manoeuvres, he initiated a new approach. On final, the airplane impacted a tree with its right wing and crashed short of runway. The pilot was injured.

Following a maritime patrol mission, the crew was returning to RAF Tangmere. The twin engine airplane landed too far down the runway and was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran and came to rest. All four crew members from the 217th Squadron evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft was employed on the regular night mail service between Gatwick and Hanover and the crash occurred on the return flight from Hanover when the pilot was preparing to approach the vicinity of Gatwick Airport. The pilot Hattersley was, in fact, on his first ever return flight on this route with this type of aircraft, although he had flown the double journey four times previously in a DH.86. On the flight in question the pilot had been flying in cloud over most of the route and particularly over England. The weather conditions were bad with lots of low cloud at about 200 metres and there was a strong NE wind reaching as much as 60kn/h at ground level. The pilot navigated by means of W/T bearings sent from Croydon, Lympne, Pulham and Gatwick. Hattersley successfully brought the Fokker through cloud to the vicinity of the airport, and his engines were clearly heard from the ground. Control told him that they had heard him and sent a further five bearings in quick succession - no acknowledgement was received for the last bearing and the Fokker sent no further messages. Repeated attempts were made to communicate with G-AEOT but without success. Gatwick then telephoned every local police station in an endeavour to learn whether anyone had heard anything of the aircraft. A search party, including the airport ambulance and fire engine, set out. At 0610 the wireless operator (C.G.V. Wheeler) of the missing aircraft telephoned the control officer at Crawley and stated that the machine had crashed to the south of Crawley. The local ambulance was informed and it left immediately for the scene of the accident. G-AEOT had crashed into trees on Round Hill, 4 miles south of Gatwick Airport. It was upside down and extensively damaged, with the fuselage completely broken up. The flight engineer, G.R.C. Blowers, was lying injured on the ground near the machine, and Hattersley and the second pilot, V.C.W. Bredenkamp, were both dead in the wreckage.
Source: http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=925.0

The pilot encountered an unexpected situation and was forced to reduce his altitude and to attempt an emergency landing. The single engine aircraft collided with trees and crashed in North Heath Farm. Both occupants were seriously injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

The airplane departed London-Gatwick Airport on a night mail flight to Hamburg, carrying four crew members. After takeoff, while climbing, the pilot-in-command initiated a 180 turn, apparently to return to Gatwick. Doing so, the airplane lost height, impacted trees and crashed. A crew member was injured while three others were killed, including Cpt W. F. Anderson.

The pilot departed Shoreham on a local demo flight, taking part to the British Empire Flying Day. While cruising at an altitude of 3,000 feet, the airplane entered a dive and crashed. The pilot Hugh G. Aitchison was seriously injured.

The single engine airplane departed Shoreham for a joyride with one passenger and one pilot on board. En route, the airplane crashed in unknown circumstances in Walberton. The female passenger died few minutes after the accident and the pilot died the following day.
Crew:
Edward Myers, pilot.
Passenger:
Ruby Dickerson.

Crashed for unknown reasons while taking off from Sheroham Airport. Both occupants were injured.

The pilot departed Hanworth on a solo flight. En route, the airplane crashed in unknown circumstances in a field in Findon, near Worthing, bursting into flames. The pilot was badly injured and the aircraft was destroyed.