Crash-Landed A Sea Fury T20 After Engine Failure

The pilot of a 1944 Sea Fury T20 making a demonstration flight during Air Day at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall last July had kind of a bad day. During the flight, the engine of the airplane began to lose power, causing 44-year-old Lieutenant Commander Christopher Gotke to declare an emergency and extend his landing gear. But the plane lost all power before he could land, and as 21,000 people watched, he made a decision not to eject, and raised the landing gear to improve his glide ratio. As he approached the field, he put the gear back down, but the landing gear collapsed as the plane touched down, and it skidded to a stop on its belly.

Video of the incident was, of course, captured by someone in the crowd and posted on YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 339,000 times, according the the U.K. newspaper The Mirror.

Gotke was relatively unscathed by the accident, so the career Navy pilot said he was "shocked and amazed" when he was awarded the Air Force Cross for his flying ability and actions during the demonstration flight. He told the paper that it looked a lot more dramatic than it actually was, and that the crowd was never in any danger because "the aircraft was fully controllable."

The plane was damaged, but it is reportedly being repaired and will be flying again later this year, according to the report.

The paper reports that the airplane is is one of only three or four examples of the Sea Fury known to exist in the U.K. The YouTube description says that it is the only airworthy example of the airplane in the U.K.

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: Video