Date:	Saturday 29 June 1957
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	Island Air Services
Registration:	G-AGUF
MSN:	6855
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 9
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ramsgate Airport, Ramsgate, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Ramsgate Airport, Ramsgate, Kent (X2RT)
Destination airport:	Ramsgate Airport, Ramsgate, Kent (X2RT)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
c/no.6855: Taken on charge as NR779 at 18 MU RAF Dumfries 20.2.45. Sold 17.10.45 to Ministry of Civil Aviation. Registered G-AGUF (C of R 9735) 18.10.45 to The Minister of Civil Aviation (also quoting BCL 89506 - presumably the Brush Coachworks fuselage number); operated by Railway Air Services Ltd, Speke. C of A 7235 issued 29.10.45.

To Channel Islands Airways Ltd [on hire from the Ministry of Civil Aviation], delivered 14.1.46. Registered 1.1.47 to British European Airways Corporation. Re-registered 2.6.48 to John Arthur Ralph Helps t/a Island Air Services, Heathrow. Re-registered 7.10.48 to John Arthur Ralph Helps, Monique Marie Agazarian [later Mrs Rendall] & Raymond Charles Rendall. Re-registered 4.2.54 to Mrs Monique Marie & Raymond Charles Rendall (of IAS (London) Ltd but still trading as Island Air Services); based Ramsgate from 1957.

Written off when crashed on take off from Ramsgate on 29.6.57 whilst operating a local pleasure flight. The aircraft was written off, but all on board (pilot and eight passengers) escaped uninjured. A contemporary newspaper report gives further details ("East Kent Times and Mail" - Friday 5 July 1957):

"Pleasure trip plane in crash

A TWIN engine Rapide aircraft setting off with nine passengers on a pleasure trip crashed when taking off at Ramsgate Airport on Saturday. None of the passengers was seriously injured but several were taken to Margate Hospital for treatment for scratches and bruises. The passengers were all Londoners. The pilot was unhurt.

The plane, which belongs to Island Air Services, rose slightly off the ground when taking off, and then crashed. Both wings were badly damaged and the plane lay a crumpled heap in the middle of the runway. Officials of Ramsgate Airport would not comment after the crash".

Registration G-AGUF cancelled 9.8.57 as "withdrawn from use"

1. Humphreys, Roy (2001). Kent Aviation, A Century of Flight.p169 Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2790-9.
2. East Kent Times and Mail - Friday 5 July 1957
3. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh89.pdf
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AGUF-1.pdf
5. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AGUF-2.pdf
6. http://www.jstokes99.freeserve.co.uk/Models/details/rapide.htm
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsgate_Airport#Accidents_and_incidents
8. G-AGUF at Heathrow May 1950: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1185078/
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_airliners_in_the_United_Kingdom
10. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-ramsgate
11. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13972.0

Today's Header Photograph is from the John Stroud archive as is of BEA Guernsey-Jersey De Havilland Dragon Rapides G-AGSK G-AGPI & G-AGUF in April 1947. #johnstroudarchive #dragonrapide pic.twitter.com/MXIQMypnmW

— A Flying History Ltd (@AFlyingHistory) February 6, 2019

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
02-Jan-2012 08:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
31-Jan-2017 19:23	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
21-Feb-2019 15:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
05-Mar-2019 19:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
07-Aug-2020 16:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
16-Dec-2020 18:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total occupants, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Dec-2020 18:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]