John Derry & Tony Richards

[H Peacock]

Just watched a recording on BBC4 about When Britain Ruled The Skies. Some amazing footage of a fantastic period in British aviation history. It showed the accident of the DH110 at Farnborough following a high-speed run.

Test pilot John Derry and his flight test observer Tony Richards were both killed when their aircraft broke up. Tragically 29 spectators also lost their lives. Exactly 60 years ago today.

[Gemini Twin]

I remember that terrible moment very well. It was a traumatic event in my avaition crazy young mind. It was difficult to understand what was going on as it was quite some distance away although almost directly in front of us. As is normal in these events my mind shut out all sounds while my brain tried to adjust to what my eyes were seeing. The most vivid memory is of the the two engines streaking overhead, then the tumbling image of the forward fuselage which impacted the edge of the runway just to our right.
Growing up not far from Hatfield filled my child hood with sights of the Comets, 108 and the awesome 110. Couple of years later I joined the company and worked at Hatfield and later with the NZ branch in Wellington.
What test pilots they were at that time.