Date:	Sunday 2 December 1945
Time:
Type:	Handley Page HP.68 Hermes 1
Owner/operator:	Handley Page Ltd
Registration:	G-AGSS
MSN:	HP.68/1
Year of manufacture:	1945
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	5 km from Radlett Airfield -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Radlett Airfield (EGTL)
Destination airport:	Radlett Airfield (EGTL)

Narrative:
The Handley Page HP.68 Hermes 1 prototype crashed on its initial flight.

CONCLUSIONS:
1. It is considered that the accident was the direct result of elevator overbalance, this brought about flight conditions the nature of which caused the pilot to lose control.
2. Although the porpoising motions set up by the overbalanced elevators would have been expected, the final manoeuvre of the aircraft, in climbing suddenly, cannot be satisfactorily explained.
3. It seems certain, however, that at different trimmer settings, a reversal of stick forces would have occurred with which the pilot could not have kept in phase as the loads increased.

Air Pictorial Oct. 1965, p.371
Flight International 6 December 1945

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