History of Wisley & One-Eleven accidents
Wisley was first discovered by Vickers' CTP Mutt Summers in 1941 and developed as a flight test centre for use by the firm in 1943 with a grass runway and large hangar.
In the War years and its aftermath a number of unusual types were based there for trials of "Highball" a smaller version of the Barnes Wallis "Upkeep" Dambuster bomb. Post-War for the development of Vickers guided missiles various non-Vickers aircraft including Meteors, Canberras and a Washington were based at Wisley. The Washington was written off in a spectacular accident in 1955 when a Valiant collided with it.
Some Vickers types made their maiden flights from there including the Valiant (on grass!) and the Viking and the Viscount. However generally in later years Vickers types made their maiden flights from Brooklands into Wisley.
The prototype One-Eleven made its first flight from Hurn on August 20, 1963 with BAC's CTP Jock Bryce at the controls. A few flights later it relocated to Wisley but crashed killing all seven on board on October 22, 1963 with Mike Lithgow (by then Vickers Deputy CTP) at the controls. The aircraft had entered a deep stall from which it was unable to recover.
The second production One-Eleven G-ASJB crashed at Wisley on March 18, 1963 as a result of a loss of control by the pilots . The undercarriage came off and one of the engines was virtually severed from its pylon. There were fortunately only minor injuries. The aircraft was dismantled and the fuselage returned to Hurn with the intention of rebuilding it but this was abandoned.
Wisley continued in use for the VC10 and One-Eleven trials but as these came to an end there was nothing to replace them and Wisley closed on April 14, 1972.