No, John hadn't achieved the 'hat-rick' of Sea Fury prangs, it was Norwegian Spitfire Foundation chief pilot, Eskil Amdal flying it. Looking at the state of the cockpit area he was a lucky man to get out of it and walk away.

BBC calling it a light aircraft
 

I don't think the pilot of the Chinese Mig shot down by a Sea Fury would call it a light aircraft ;)

P & W 2800 is pushrods and tappetts....

Video of departure from Duxford and the aftermath - very lucky it wasn't much worse.

https://youtu.be/h6H0YAE2p0g

Remarkably fair and accurate report in The Times https://www.pprune.org/accidents-clo...light=Sea+Fury

Second World War fighter plane crashes in Cambridgeshire field


A pilot and a passenger suffered minor injuries when their Second World War-era fighter plane crashed in a field in Cambridgeshire yesterday.

The Hawker Sea Fury was operated by the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation. It set out from the Imperial War Museum’s airfield at Duxford, ten miles south of Cambridge. The plane, among the last propeller-driven fighters to serve with the Royal Navy, suffered an engine failure with one passenger on board. The pilot, Captain Eskil Amdal, made an emergency landing near by.

Footage and pictures from the crash site showed the aircraft split in pieces with its nose in trees on the edge of a field. Captain Amdal and his passenger climbed out of the plane and were taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with minor injuries. A spokesman for the foundation, a charity dedicated to maintaining historic planes and commemorating the Norwegian air force, said: “Chief pilot Eskil Amdal did a very good job getting the aircraft down. Eskil and his passenger suffered only minor injuries.”

A spokeswoman for East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called to Harston about 4.20pm yesterday after receiving reports of a plane crash. We sent two ambulances, two hazardous area response teams, an ambulance officer and rapid response vehicle. Crews treated two patients at the scene before transporting them to Addenbrooke’s Hospital for further assessment and care.”

The first prototyes of the Hawker Fury and Sea Fury were built in 1942. In 1944, the RAF ordered 200 of the Fury models. Another 200 Sea Fury planes were ordered for the Fleet Air Arm. During the Korean War the Sea Fury was the Navy’s only single-seat fighter plane. It was eventually replaced by the Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighter.

A spokeswoman for the Imperial War Museum (IWM) said: “Following an incident involving a Hawker Sea Fury aircraft which departed from Duxford airfield yesterday afternoon on a routine flight, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch will undertake a full investigation.

“The aircraft had to carry out a procedural forced landing on local farm land and sustained significant damage and a fuel leak. An IWM Duxford fire team with specialist equipment and knowledge assisted Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service at the scene. The pilot and passenger remain in a stable condition having sustained minor injuries.”

Quite a distinctive smoke trail behind the aircraft during the takeoff run and climb-out in the video. That looks like impending engine failure before they even left the ground!

Looked a fairly large field they tried to put it down in, but it clearly had plenty of energy when it arrived at the tree-line. Such a shame.

It's very fortunate that it did not burn. The above story mentions "a fuel leak", which sounds to me that the fuel tanks (in the wings?) were largely intact.

Hopefully, this beautiful aircraft will be repaired/rebuilt.

Regards,
Grog

Lots of soot down the port side, and smoke from the port exhaust stack on departure.

Tail mark is of my father's old station HMS Gannet at Eglinton, N.Ireland

Looking at the damage to the front fuselage, is it a "construction joint" adjacent to the instrument panel or was it cut through by the rescue crew? Either way the pilot looks as though he was lucky not to get severe leg injuries.

They were never an aircraft to force land as they had a fearsome rep for killing people, especially with gear problems, hence when the RN Historic lost one years ago, John Beattie went over the side.

https://www.navy-net.co.uk/community...h-lands.75236/

Couple of images below courtesy of a member of another forum showing the damage when WG655 force landed in a field near Castle Carey in 1990 - much worse! The landing was in a very suitable field, unfortunately a cross slope led to a slide inexorably into the only two trees for miles. The back seater did suffer some quite serious injuries.

If I recall correctly, John Beattie's decision to abandon TF956 over the sea at Prestwick was due to one leg been stuck down and the other up - a landing in that configuration is a no no due to the type's propensity for going over on to its back - I can think of two, possibly three fatal Sea Fury accidents where the aircraft has turned over in a landing accident.

Finally, I gather that the back seater in WG655 on Tuesday was a fairly well-known PPRuNer who has suffered a bit of a bruised back - hope both guys are fully recovered quickly and none the worse for the experience!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....83fb0f59b9.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4a25a4d7a2.jpg

Pilot article
 

I think that, once the Editor has collected his faculties, there will be a rather interesting piece from Mr Whiteman about the joys and perils of passenger warbird flying!

Skua, feel free to quote (yes, which may mean you have to type it out...) a brief section of the article, so readers here may consider your thoughts. Pilot Magazine is not easily available to all PPRuNe readers.

As far as I read on other forums it was Dave Unwin (who is a regular contributor to Pilot Magazine) riding pax, not Mr Whiteman but I stand to be corrected.

Dave Unwin is correct: https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/ne...plane-9119210/

It was Dave Unwin - link to item in his local paper below.

Get well soon, Dave!

https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/ne...plane-9119210/

Edit: SD you sneaky so and so, how'd you manage to copy my post when I hadn't even posted it! :p

Genius, dear boy, genius. ;)

It is possible to make it appear that I posted a link to an event before it actually happened, although in this case it was purely down to being quicker off the mark! :cool:

Sorry, I was misinformed.