ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27428
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| Date: | Wednesday 25 January 1933 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Supermarine Air Yacht |
| Owner/operator: | Mrs. June Jewell James |
| Registration: | G-AASE |
| MSN: | 1285 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Gulf of Salerno, off Positano -
 Italy
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Gulf of Salerno, off Positano |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
A three-engined "luxury" seaplane. Only one machine was built to an order from Hon. A. E Guinness (Lord Ardilaun) for pleasure cruises around the Mediterranean. Instead of having usual wing-mounted floats it was fitted with Dornier Wal-type sponsons. In February 1930 the aircraft made several test test "hops" from Hythe, England. It had a tremendously long take-off run, and due to that, Guinness rejected the aircraft. The plane then, October 1932, was bought by a wealthy American lady, Mrs. June Jewell James. On January 25, 1933 the Air Yacht was damaged beyond repair when it stalled into the sea on take off in the vicinity of Capri. The owner suffered a broken leg but otherwise there were no serious injuries sustained; the aircraft was too badly damaged to be worth salvaging.
My father, Ernest (Fred) Smith was the flight engineer on this flight, he was also seconded from Supermarine, as was the pilot Henri Biard. His account listed more occupants, including the owner's dog, all of which except dad and the replacement pilot, Tommy Rose, left the sinking aircraft in the overloaded collapasable lifeboat..all were rescued by local fishermen, the aircraft wreck towed to shore and scrapped, the engines returning to the UK with dad and Tommy, while the rest of the party continued their Grand Tour by conventional means...
Registration G-AASE formally cancelled by the Air Ministry 30 November 1933 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft"
Sources:
1. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AASE.pdf
2. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/75-register-gb-g-aa
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A1.html
4. http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/KleinBernhard/5649.htm
5. http://johnkshelton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/r-j-mitchells-air-yachts.html
6. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/wimmin/137
7. https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/supermarine--s4
8. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?133241-Supermarine-Air-Yacht-G-AASE
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Air_Yacht
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 30-Oct-2012 08:11 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2013 12:52 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 20-Nov-2017 02:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 07-Jun-2020 18:58 | Sergey L. | Updated [Source] |
| 18-Nov-2021 20:21 | TB | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
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