ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 194709
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| Date: | Thursday 16 February 1939 |
| Time: | 13:40 |
| Type: | Farman F.402 |
| Owner/operator: | Paul Grieu |
| Registration: | F-AMTL |
| MSN: | 7391.18 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Sanvic, Le Harvre, Normandy -
 France
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Buc, Yvelines department, Île-de-France |
| Bléville field, Le Harvre, Normandy | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
F-AMTL Farman 402 (7391/18); first registered 27.1.34 (C of R 3662) to Paul Grieu, Le Havre
Written off (destroyed) 16.2.39; Crashed near Sanvic. Pilot/owner Paul Grieu (aged 40) killed. According to a rough translation from French into English of the pilot's last flight (See link #4 for the original French text):
"On the morning of February 15, 1939, the pilot pilot flew to Buc and Le Bourget with his yellow and grey Farman 402 registered F-AMTL, to pass the last tests of the patent of civil transport. The next day, he leaves Buc around noon for what will be, alas, his last flight...
LOST IN THE MIST...
As it makes its way directly to Le Havre, and has just crossed the estuary of Le Havre, a thick mist covers the coast. Raindrops fall in a cold north-east wind. He is desperately searching for a break that will allow him to land. Between 13:30 and 13:40, the people of Le Havre heard the aircraft clearly over Boulevard Albert I at the height of the Embruns. Paul Grieu spins over Dollemard in search of the Bléville field. Suddenly, a curtain of poplars stands in front of him and he immediately tries to regain altitude. But the right wing touches the high branches of trees that seem to tear a wing. At 170 kilometers per hour, the plane is destabilised, swing the nose and the aircraft crashes one kilometer further, in a fallow field at Sanvic,
A young mechanic from the airfield, André Tocqueville, heard the plane flying low, then the sound of the crash. He immediately went there and recognised the engine of Paul Grieu's plane. He telephoned President Raoul-Duval to announce the disaster. A woman, hastening from a nearby house, heard the last rattle of the pilot.
On the scene of the tragedy, the engine is driven eighty centimeters into the ground and is covered with mud, propeller blades torn off. Attached to the engine, the dashboard is broken and the dial of the speedometer is blocked at 170 km/hr. Fifteen meters further, we can see the cockpit of the plane standing upright in the ground, the right wing torn off, the debris scattered all around. One can, however, see in an intact part a branch of poplar as big as a finger that is stuck there. The fuselage is broken in two, its rear part remained intact. In what is left of the cockpit, a little toy doll hangs lamentably at the end of his line. We see the pilot's body, lying on his back above the debris of his plane, legs and arms extended. He had been crushed against the engine and ejected from the cabin. His comrades arrive on the scene, piously cover with a blanket the body, which has many fractures, waiting for its transport to the depository of Sanvic and its home at Avenue Désiré-Dehors in Sainte-Adresse.
This drama was going to mark all the members and the pilots of the flying club, in particular Jean Maridor, who will watch the remains of his "master" during a whole night."
Sources:
1. http://www.jean-maridor.org/francais/grieu_menu.htm
2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/f-aaaa.pdf
3. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farman_F.402
4. http://www.jean-maridor.org/francais/grieu_menu.htm
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_F-12.html
6. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartier_Sanvic
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Apr-2017 20:58 | TB | Added |
| 05-Apr-2019 19:48 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 05-Apr-2019 19:49 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
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