XH535 - Crashed May 11th, 1964
I came across this site by accident but have a couple of comments regarding the crash of Vulcan XH535.
My father (Jack Dingley) was Navigator on board the XH535 ... the crash happened on Whit Monday and he actually replaced a friend of his who wanted to spend the Bankholiday away with his family ...
You list that the reason for the crash was "unknown" - in fact the reason given to my mother by the Group Captain who came to the house to give her the news was as follows:-
The aircraft took off from RAF Boscombe Down to conduct a series of tests which they completed successfully, however, the Pilot (a guy from Avro or Hawker Siddley - i don't remember exactly) was due to make further tests the following day and decided to include one (or some) of these tests on the 11th May instead.
One of these tests was to perform a low-fly low-speed test over the Downs approx 10 miles NW of the base. During this test the engines stalled and they were not high enough to enable a restart .... as a result the Vulcan "bellyflopped" and all but the 2 pilots survived (they ejected at low altitude) and the RAF co-pilot was severely disabled and was / is wheelchair bound for life.
If this helps great ..
As a sequel both my brother and I wanted to join the RAF but .... we both wore glasses - and in those days only groundstaff positions were offered so we persued other paths.
Jack Dingleys' widow (Lucienne) my mother, still lives in the UK (at Southampton) and I have been living here in the Cannes area of France for several years.