Wattisham Hawk Crash
Hawk XX293 Crash at RAF Wattisham 17 April 1985
Somewhat late in the day but......
My warrant officer (WO Brian Codd) and I were first at the crash scene. We were driving around the 56Sqn HAS site in our black mini van, in the early afternoon I think. Actually, he was giving me a driving lesson. We had become used to the visiting Hawks in the circuit, but suddenly there was a "boom". Without even looking out of the window, Brian said "that's a bang seat". We stopped, and looking up we saw a parachute deployed in the direction of 74 Sgn HAS site. We kept looking at the Hawk and waited for another parachute, but it never came. The Hawk continued in a shallow descent and crashed not far from the HAS site. We radioed to Eng Control to RV with us at the crash gate on Nedging Road with the keys, and then drove to the crash site, which to the best of my recollection was a cottage on the left side of Nedging Road, driving away from the airfield..
The Hawk had ploughed through the thatched roof at a very shallow angle with a slight left bank. The fuselage and left wing had impacted the roof, while the starboard wingtip left a very neat slice in the brick chimney stack (I have photos of the aftermath later in the evening). Fuel had ignited the thatch. The wingless fuselage had tumbled to a halt about 2-300 yds beyond in a level field leaving a trail of burning thatch. At the scene there was thatch all over the place. The Hawk had severed low tension power lines which lay across the road making approach a little dodgy. The only person in the house at the time was a woman who had been was washing clothes in the rear. She was standing in front of the house frantically calling for her dog, which had been with her but had ran away barking in panic. As she confirmed there was no-on else in the house, we did not enter it. A few minutes later fire vehicles arrived and confirmed that there had been only one crew, which was a relief as we looked at the smouldering fuselage in the field, still identifiable as a red and white Hawk.
As reported, the student pilot had not locked his canopy. He did not notice this until after climb out and trimmed for circuit. He opted to eject, arguably prematurely due to his lack of experience. His supervisors were also disciplined as he should not have flown solo (the inquiry found).
It could have been a lot worse. I recall it was a lovely early spring day, the first warm day of the year . The woman told me that the family had been restoring the cottage while they lived in a caravan on the front drive. Through the winter her children would play in the thatched loft during wet weather. That day was the first day they had played outside. If the children had been in the roof space they would certainly have been killed.