Farnborough 06 September 1952
 

70th anniversary of the destruction of the de Havilland 110 prototype with loss of John Derry and Tony Richards together with 27 members of the public in the watching crowd...... Yes, I was there together with my Dad..........

Shoreham was pretty bad but if this accident was repeated now, the show would be cancelled, there would be a public inquiry, questions in the house and a day of national mourning. 70 years ago, they just got on with it.

Back in the early 80's I worked with a guy who had been an apprentice draftsman at Handley Page in Radlett, and the design office used to have a works outing to Farnborough every year. They went on the day the 110 crashed, and old Harry was standing with some of his colleagues in line with the oncoming DH110 when it broke up and he said he had nightmares for many years afterwards, as both engines came hurtling towards him, and he just threw himself onto the ground and they hit to the area about 100 yards behind where he had been standing.
He never attended an airshow again, and he had even decided to leave the aviation industry as well within a year.

I am unawere if the full story ever came out. Talk in Industry of Redux bonding vs bolting etc regarding aileron attachment etc.etc.

Indeed they did....! As I recall the display was up and running again in less than an hour. Think my memory is correct; it was Neville Duke in a Hunter who was "next on parade". Remember the "sound barrier" being broken at the show. There had been an earlier incident when the Prestwick Pioneer clipped a mast with loudspeakers on it. There was some minor damage to the tailplane....

I understand the aircraft used that day was a replacement and wasn't stressed as well as the original hence the reason the engines separated from the wings and tailplane.

Yup, Derry and Richards were ferried over to Hatfield to pick up the other DH-110.

I read somewhere that Neville Duke received a nice letter from Churchill commending him for carrying on the display. I also seem to recall that Mrs Derry watched him... amazing fortitude.

Mrs Derry was a war widow, Derry was her second husband. Probably stood there in shock not knowing what to do next. All very tragic.

With modern hindsight, getting the show up and running that soon looks callous, but I think there's evidence that it was done as a way of keeping the access roads clear for the emergency services to take the injured to hospital. Three years later at Le Mans that was certainly one of the reasons that the race continued after the accident.

It shows how things have improved immeasurably. Back then life was cheap and death the norm.

Modern hindsight, yes, but remember these people had lived through a war very recently. The ethos back then was "just get on with it".

We always used to do that at Farnborough in my day; I witnessed the S67 crash in 1974 and we just continued with the flying to try and take the spectators mind off it; also with the Buffalo although that caused the runway to be closed and hence curtailed the show.

Yes absolutely, the war had only ended seven years before, equivalent to us looking back on events in 2015. Also many of those flying would have had service careers & almost certainly lost colleagues. John Derry was, of course, a Squadron Leader. Not directly related but it should be remembered Geoffrey de Havilland had lost two sons to flying accidents & then went on to then endure the trauma of the loss of the Comets 1s, with sadly considerable loss of life. The loss of two sons destroyed his first wife.

Yes, I can see your point of view but not sure I entirely agree. Death is still the norm for us all in the end. Today we are subjected to a relentless media frenzy after such events: yes we need to have news & know what is happening in the world. Excessive speculation & muck racking..... No, not needed.

Yes, I was invited to land at the other end of the runway - easy!

Mog

I missed the actual 'heavy landing'. I walked towards the control tower, looked up at the Buffalo circling and gently descending just above me, then went into the tower.
As I started climbing the stairs, I heard a 'bang' which I thought was the door behind me closing then OC Flying and COEF both burst out of their doorways and went running up the stairs. I got to the first landing just in time to see Bill exiting the aircraft.
I had been outside in another portakabin finalising the flying programme for the following day, so I had to go back and re write it!!

Hi Mog , I was in Industry at the time and on the company stand. I had dragged another employee, who hated air displays ( as they were dangerous!) down to the fence for a quick break.. Almost immediately Bill Loverseed demonstrated his ultra short landing technique with the Buffalo right in front of us.
It slid to a halt and some guys emerged out of the top escspe hatches .
I turned to my erstwhile companion , only to see the back of him returning at speed up to the Exhibition Marquee...
Ah well!

I had a grandstand view of it from the Bombardier chalet. It was of course considered polite for all the lunch guests to watch the displays by the company's own aircraft, so even before it hit the runway, everything went very quiet ...