Date:	Tuesday 10 November 1953
Time:	07:55
Type:	Supermarine Swift F.1 Prototype
Owner/operator:	'A' Sqn A&AEE Boscombe Down
Registration:	WJ965
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Breamore Down, 3 miles NNW of Fordingbridge, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Destination airport:	RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The second Supermarine Swift prototype, Supemarine Type 541, WJ965, took off from Boscombe Down at 07.30 on 10th November 1953 in the hands of RAF test pilot Squadron Leader Noel Lewis, DFC. He had been briefed by a member of the Performance Division of A & A.E.E. regarding the nature of the test which was to include a clean stall with power off (flaps and wheels up), secondly another power off stall (wheels and flaps down), and thirdly a power on stall (wheels and flaps down). Lewis was advised to carry out the stall tests between 15,000 ft and 20,000 ft due to the high rate of sink which usually developed when approaching the stall.

Witnesses saw the Swift flying slowly at heights estimated between 3,000 ft and 15,000 ft, and at 07.40 it was seen at the lower altitude flying very slowly, wheels and flaps up, and it was noted that the engine was making 'a loud crackling noise'. Approximately 15 minutes later, WJ965 was seen to enter a flat spin to starboard and, after 3½ rotations, it struck the ground at Breamore Down, 3 miles North North-West of Fordingbridge in Hampshire. Squadron Leader Lewis was killed instantly.

No precise cause was ever determined - the weather had been good, the Swift had been properly maintained, a post mortem examination of the pilot revealed no signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, and technical examination of the wreckage showed no obvious defects or contributory factors.

Crew:
Test Pilot: Squadron Leader Noel Eric David "Ned" Lewis DFC, RAF "A" Squadron A&AEE (aged 31) killed in service 10/11/1953.

Note that one of the official files into the incident at The National Archives at Kew (File AVIA 5/32/S2667) seems to have given this aircraft the serial "WS965" [sic]. The serial WS965 was in fact, allocated to a Canberra B.2 (part of a batch with serials WS960-WS999 that were cancelled and never built).

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.152 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 427
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/186: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424307
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2667: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578513
6. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6028.0;wap2
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WJ
8. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=229
9. http://web.archive.org/web/20171123224900/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/swift/swift.htm
10. https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Alfarrabista/12440.htm
11. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1324632/
12. https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/breamore-down-new-forest

Supermarine 541 Swift F.1 2nd Prototype WJ965 with experimental extended nose probe

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Jun-2008 11:56	JINX	Added
27-Dec-2012 15:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
12-Jan-2013 05:16	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
07-Jan-2020 00:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
07-Jan-2020 00:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
07-Dec-2020 18:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
22-May-2021 17:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]