29 November 1975

[ID90]

If I remember correctly, tonight is the 30th anniversary of two fatal crashes at UK airfields. One was at Birmingham - where I used to live and work. A Baron (?) crashed in the fog while trying to land on Rwy 24 (?)
Sadly, on the same night, the racing driver Graham Hill was also killed in a twin landing at Elstree I believe...can't remember if he was the pilot or a passenger...
Anyone else remember these accidents?

[jumpseater]

Graham Hill was PIC and the aircraft crashed on Elstree golf course. There were several on board including Tony Brise, a very promising english driver. The accident wiped out the key members of the team formed by Graham Hill. I can remember it quite well as it was relatively local to me, as at the time he was one of my heroes.

[DaveW]

Contemporary report on Graham Hill's accident repeated here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_2527000/2527363.stm). He was flying.

Six died in that accident. Sad day. I remember seeing the wreckage in the AAIB compound during the course of one Farnborough show many years ago. :(

[ID90]

Thanks J/S & DW.
I hadn't realised that Graham Hill had only recently retired from racing when he was killed.
I do remember how terrible the conditions were at BHX (but not what the forecasts/actuals stated) that night, no doubt a similar story at Elstree and across much of the UK.

[Talkdownman]

N6645Y. PA27. Arkley Golf Course, Barnet. Thick fog. CFIT.

[Mr_Grubby]

ID 90

If you do a search for "29/11/75 Birmingham" you will find a thread that I started on 13 Dec ’02 on this very subject. More info there.

If I was clever, which I’m not, I would put a link in. Mod can you help ?

Incidentally, as an aside I read the other day that the ATCO in the tower at Elstree on that night was a guy called Peter Wood. Exactly ten years later to the very day he himself was killed in an accident. Spookey.


Clint.

[vintage ATCO]

I was sitting in front of the radar at Luton the night GH went in. The Heathrow line rang and I was asked if I was working N6645Y. The weather caught many people out that night, sadly Luton was still clear at the time.

Yes, there was the Baron at Brum and wasn't there a third crash that day?

I was writing a report at the time on an incident we had earlier, but happily no one hurt.


Edited to add: I'd forgotten that previous thread. Now found.

[Flying Lawyer]

Interesting to see another great aviation character, who sadly is no longer with us, mentioned in DaveW’s link to the Graham Hill crash story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series4/i/spencer_flack_150.jpg
Spencer Flack survived a Sea Fury crash in which he was badly injured in the late 70s/early 80s, but lost his life in February 2002 driving his 1959 BRM in a vintage race in Australia. A very sad loss - a lovely chap who enjoyed life to the full.

Spencer’s collection of vintage aircraft included G-FURY, G-FIRE and G-HUNT.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/G-FURY.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/G-FIRE.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/1074e842f2Hunter20G-HUNT2020warbird.jpg

[Halcyon Days]

N6645Y taken at Elstree

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Maybee123/N6645YGrahamHillsAztecElstree.jpg