Originally Posted by
megan
I hope you are not inferring that Derry knowingly exceeded limits, from what I understand the issue was design flaw in the wings leading edge D section. The coroner's jury recorded that Derry and Richards had "died accidentally in the normal course of their duty", and that "the deaths of the spectators were accidental", adding that "no blame is attached to Mr. John Derry".
Badly worded, Megan. I remember vaguely reading a report on the accident that on a previous Mach One pass, it was noticed that some structural deformation was apparent. It was mentioned by his observer. Of course Derry didn't know his aircraft was going to disintegrate. Nor did the design team. Life was cheaper then. Joe Bloggs was a nobody and claims direct didn't exist.