The airshow business is having a bad time, of late... as
evidenced (again) by Saturday's loss of a World War II British
Hawker Hurricane... one of less than a dozen still known to be
flying. The Saturday accident occurred during a WWII reenactment
with two Me-109s and an Me-108 at the Shoreham Air Show in Sussex
(UK).
The pilot, as yet
unidentified, perished in the crash which was part of a Battle of
Britain dogfight routine that tragically culminated in the
aircraft's loss a mile away from the airport near the Sussex pad
pub.
A witness to the accident, Tim Deacon, described the
circumstances, “The Spitfires and Hurricanes were taking part
in a re-enactment of a dog fight with some Messerschmitts when
suddenly it veered off to the left. It flew off to the left quite
steeply and we saw it crash into the downs in a big fireball
– just the other side of the A27... A massive plume of black
smoke went up. Moments later the show stopped and we heard over the
loudspeaker that there had been a crash and there would be a half
hour delay on the proceedings."
Another witness (one of some 20,000 reported at the show),
Holly Russell, told the BBC that, “They were doing a mock dog
fight and it looked like the plane was doing a dive, but it was
going too fast and smashed straight into the ground. It was nose
down. There was a mushroom cloud of black smoke.”
A Sussex Police spokesman reported that, "At 3:20 pm (1420 GMT)
today a single-crewed Hurricane aircraft taking part in an aerial
display at the Shoreham Air Show crashed into a field, killing the
pilot. Emergency services put in place contingency plans at the air
show and are on the scene. No other planes were involved. Next of
kin have been informed."
The show was suspended for the better part of an hour before
continuing in the pilot's honor, with a Missing man formation flown
to reflect on the events of the day. The accident occurred at
approximately 1523, local time, on the first day of the annual
airshow, organized by the Royal Air Force Association (RAFA), which
is well-known for their WWII fly-bys and reenactments.
The world-renowned Hawker Hurricane was designed by Sydney Camm
and a team under the direction of the British Air Ministry. The
first prototype flew on 6 November 1935, some four months before
the first Spitfire. The 300 mph test flight was piloted by P.W.S
('George') Bulman, while production birds took to the sky in
October of 1936. By the start of the war, nearly 500 Hurricane MK
Is were in the air, supporting 18 squadrons. More than 15,000
Hurricanes were built, including nearly 3000 that were sent to the
Soviet Union. The last Hurricane rolled off the production line in
September 1944 but continued to see service until 1955.
The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch will be carrying out
an investigation into the accident.