ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 160803
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Saturday 6 January 1945 |
| Time: | 15:25 |
| Type: | Vickers Warwick V |
| Owner/operator: | Vickers Aircraft Ltd |
| Registration: | PN778 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Haines Bridge, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Brooklands, Surrey |
| Brooklands, Surrey |
Crashed on test flight January 6, 1945: Aircraft experienced severe rudder overbalance and spun into ground making its approach to Brooklands, Surrey. Pilot Sqn Ldr M.V. Longbottom, Vickers Test Pilot, (aged 29) killed. According to an eyewitness rpeort (see link #4):
"As a boy Tim Ely, now of East Horsley, was one of the only people to witness the last moments of an aircraft from Vickers at Brooklands before it crashed on the railway line in Weybridge.
It took place at 3.25pm on Saturday, January 6, 1945, and claimed the life of an experienced and decorated test pilot, 29-year-old Squadron Leader Maurice Victor Longbottom DFC.
Nicknamed ‘Shorty’ Longbottom, he was test flying a Vickers Warwick twin engine aircraft from Brooklands airfield, where the Vickers-Armstrong aircraft factory was located. The Warwick was similar in appearance to the better known Vickers Wellington bomber but was slightly larger. The actual aircraft that crashed was a Warwick GR Mk.V, Serial No. PN778.
Tim, aged 11 at the time, recalls: “During the Second World War, my father’s work at the Ministry of War Pensions in London was evacuated to Blackpool. My brother Tom, who was nine years older than me, had gone over to France on D-Day. In January 1945 I was living with my mother and my elder sister in Weybridge.
“I pedalled my Hercules bicycle to Sir Richard’s Bridge on Ashley Road in Walton-on-Thames. There, I sat on my bicycle, leaning against the bridge parapet and watched the occasional train go by on the Waterloo to Southampton line.”
“After a few minutes I was delighted to see a large twin-engined aeroplane, which had just flown over Walton station from the direction of London. It was very low and passed overhead. It continued to follow the tracks steadily, but was losing height, and just short of Haines Bridge it belly landed centrally on the railway, its fuselage in line with the tracks towards Weybridge station.”
Tim says there was an enormous explosion and thinks it may have been caused by the aircraft landing on the four live electric supply rails. He continues: “Clearly no one on board could have survived. I cycled home, told my mother what I had seen and then rode up Oatlands Avenue to see the smouldering wreckage.”
Sources:
1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7063-Shorty-Longbott
3. http://thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=147
4. http://www.guildford-dragon.com/2017/04/03/new-evidence-comes-light-wartime-aircraft-crash/
5. Press report ("Surrey Advertiser" 20 January 1945): https://i0.wp.com/www.guildford-dragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/07-Coroners-Inquest-Surrey-Advertiser-Jan-20-1945.jpg .
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Sep-2013 03:53 | JINX | Added |
| 15-May-2017 15:20 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 15-May-2017 15:20 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Phase, Source] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation