ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 19377
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: | Friday 2 July 1954 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Taylorcraft Auster AOP.V |
| Owner/operator: | Michael Frederick Macey |
| Registration: | G-ANIT |
| MSN: | 1407 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | English Channel off Hastings, East Sussex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lympne Airport, Lympne, Kent (EGMK) |
| Hastings (Pebsham) Aerodrome, Hastings, East Sussex | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Taylorcraft Auster AOP.V ex-RAF TJ339. Known RAF service was with 1952 Flight and 663 Squadron. Struck off charge upon sale 5/1/54. However, already civil registered (C of A R4264/1) as G-ANIT on 5/12/53 to R.K.Dundas Ltd., London SW.1 (and Portsmouth Hampshire). Registration cancelled upon sale 7/4/54.
Re-registered (C of R 4264/2) 20/4/54 to Michael Frederick Macey, Sutton Valance, Maidstone, Kent.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed into the sea off Hastings, East Sussex on 2/7/1954. The insurance report stated that the Auster was on a flight from Lympne when the engine failed at 500 feet. Pilot/owner Mike Macey ditched the aircraft, just off the beach at Hastings, and climbed out onto a wing. He was taken off by the local RNLI lifeboat just before the aircraft sank. The aircraft had taken off with sufficient fuel and the engine failure was attributed to a loose banjo union causing loss of fuel. The report doesn't state the intended destination but it may well have been Hastings (Pebsham) airfield. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Hastings and St Leonards Observer" - Saturday 3 July 1954):
"PLANE HITS SEA WITH CROWDS WATCHING
Three Rescuers Save Pilot
Crowds of holiday-makers on the sea-front at lunch time yesterday saw a small plane pancake into the sea close to the shore and within a stone's throw of Hastings Pier.
The pilot, Mr. Michael Macey, aged 27, of Sutton Valence, near Maidstone, climbed out on to the wing and was helped ashore with the aid of a life-line and life-belt brought out by three swimmers. He was taken in St. John ambulance to the Royal East Sussex Hospital, where after having two stitches put into a head cut and attention to his left hand he was allowed to go.
His rescuers were Flight Lieut. Frank Cattle (30), an R.A.F. navigator from Binbrook, Lincs., Mr. Jack Jones (23), of Bradley-road, Upper Norwood, London, S.E., a holidaymaker, and Mr. Ivor Bevis, of Harold-road, Hastings, a bathing attendant.
Flight Lieut. Cattle was first man out to the aircraft. He found the pilot crouched on a wing of the plane. Mr. Bevis brought out a lifebelt and line, which Hastings coastguard George D. White had obtained. The sea was rough at the time and red "No bathing" flags were flying.
SKILFUL LANDING
Onlookers told an "Observer" reporter that they thought at first the plane would hit the Pier. All praised the pilot's skill in putting his plane down so smoothly.
Not long after the crash the Auster sank, only its tail plane being visible. Later in the afternoon it was hauled out of the water up the beach. The engine was recovered separately. About two hours after the accident, still looking somewhat dishevelled, the pilot, 27-year-old Michael Macey, described what happened to an "Observer" reporter.
Macey, whose home is at Bramlea, Sutton Valence, Maldstone, is a qualified full-time commercial pilot. He said; "I had left Lympne Airport about half-an-hour previously and was flying parallel with the coast at a speed of about 70 m.p.h. As I was approaching Hastings Pier the engine stopped. I checked all the instruments and tried everything I could to start it again, but it was no use. I looked down and saw a patch of sea near the beach where there was nobody swimming about and I hit the water at about 30 m.p.h. Before the 'plane - an Auster Mark V - landed I had jettisoned the door, but the impact as I landed me about a bit in the cockpit. Later I found my left was hand grazed and I had to have a couple of stitches in my head.
SANK GENTLY
"I climbed out smartly and tried to get a line on the tail. I saw two or three chaps swim out to me and they attached a line to the tall, but I think it came off. There was plenty of air in the 'plane and I stayed on as long as I could. Then it started to sink - in a very gentle fashion. It went down in a nice, gentlemanly manner. I was in full kit but I threw off my jacket and grabbed a lifebelt one of the chaps had brought out, and swam ashore."
Registration cancelled 2/8/1954 due to destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft
Sources:
1. Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 3 July 1954
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 43
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ANIT.pdf
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14181.0
5. http://austerhg.org/prod_list/pages.php?page=1289
6. http://www.1066mfc.co.uk/aerodrome4.php?
7. https://www.key.aero/comment/1271002#comment-1271002
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 25-Nov-2012 15:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 24-Feb-2020 20:42 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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