flt lt. John Waterton and Philip 'Spud' Murphy

[sollincs]

Greetings all.

I am researching an incident where a Hadley Page Victor crashed on test flight into a farm house in Nottinghamshire. I would very much like to contact the families of the air crew, particularly those of the pilots, John Waterton and Philip Murphy. If anybody here knows their families or has a contact email for them it would be wonderful to be put in touch.

Many thanks in hope.

Sol

[John Farley]

it would be wonderful to be put in touch.


Do you realise two of the crew were killed plus two people on the ground?

Do you realise why the crash happened?

Care needed.

[Trim Stab]

Presumably you have already read this?

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=55307

Plus a fair bit else of easily googlable information.

What specifically are you researching?

[fantom]

Ah, dear Spud, my Boss.

How I miss him.

[Herod]

"Spud realised that his options had run out so made a final check of as much of the crew compartment as he could see from his seat. He left the aircraft at about 300', blacking out momentarily under acceleration. As he came to, he was falling towards the tailplane, almost touching it, he separated from his seat. As the parachute deployed he bounced once or twice and found, from the considerable discomfort, that his crutch harness was too loose." from Tests of Character, by Donald Middleton He was off flying for six months with back injuries. Like Fantom, I also had Spud as a boss. A gent and an exceptional pilot.

The aircraft took about fifty seconds to get from 10,000' to the ground. John Waterton sustained back injuries from the ejection and John Tank was the only back-seater to escape. P. Elwood and M.P. Evans died in the crash, as did two women working in the house where the Victor ended up. Also taken from Middleton's book.

[Old-Duffer]

The ladies in the house were Mrs Annie Gibson age 55 and Miss Cecily Gibson 22.


Old Duffer

[awaterton]

Hello all


John Waterton is/was my grandfather so interested to know about this, is there anymore detail on the accident, could you put up a link to it if so. Iv looked at most links I can find on the internet about it but haven't found anything that isn't based on the same paragraph of text.

[sollincs]

Thank-you for your replies, and I am sorry to be slow, I thought I had subscribed to be emailed when the thread was updated.

I have already met with the people who survived on the ground, and have accessed the inquest record. My interest in talking with the crew, or the families of the crew; if they are comfortable to talk about it, is to find out how the incident became a part of their lives and entered family history.