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| Date: | Tuesday 2 February 1937 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly |
| Owner/operator: | London Express Newspapers |
| Registration: | G-AEHC |
| MSN: | 7514 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Darnaw, Galloway Hills, 16 miles SW of Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Glasgow Refrew Airport |
| Liverpool Airport, Speke, Liverpool (LPL/EGGP) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
First registered [C of R 6949] on 27.4.36 as G-AEHC to De Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd., Hatfield, Hertfordshire. C of A 5516 issued May 1936. Sold on and re-registered [C of R 7586] on 9.1.37 to London Express Newspapers Ltd., Fleet Street, London EC.4 (aircraft based at Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey)
The twin engine aircraft was used to prove a safe air route from Glasgow-Renfrew to Liverpool-Speke under the sponsorship (and ownership) of the Daily Express in an unofficial response to a report by the Maybury Air Committee into the opening up of routes linking various British cities. The aircraft left Glasgow-Renfrew Airport on 2.2.37, and headed south to Liverpool, but nothing further was heard and when it failed to arrive at its destination, a SAR operation was started.
Written off (destroyed) 2.2.37: Crashed on Darnaw in the Galloway hills 16 miles south west of Newton Stewart, just next to Clatteringshaws reservoir, when en route from Glasgow to Liverpool with two journalists on board.
The exact cause of the accident is unknown, but it is assumed that the pilot descended below safe limits, in order to follow what he believed to be the coastline or the line of the Solway Firth. Unfortunately, the aircraft was flying too low and in poor visibility, so it contacted a hill known as 'Darnaw'. All four on board were killed:
Leslie Thomas Jackson (pilot, aged 32)
Archibald Francis Philpott (wireless operator, aged 35)
Major Harold Charles Pemberton DSO (passenger, aged 47)
Reginald Charles Wesley (passenger, aged 22)
Registration G-AEHC cancelled by the Air Ministry 7.4.37 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft".
Sources:
1. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
2. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AEHC.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A8.html
4. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/de-havilland-dragonfly-g-aehc-darnaw/
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-38828303
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh90-dragonfly-near-newton-stewart-4-killed
7. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/762913/daily-express-plane-crash-theory-revealed-tragedy
Media:
Memorial to the crash victims of G-AEHC photographed on 30 May 2006:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Mar-2010 13:26 | TB | Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Narrative, ] |
| 22-Apr-2013 00:39 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 10-May-2013 07:45 | ryan | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 17-May-2013 09:17 | ryan | Updated [Source, ] |
| 26-Feb-2014 00:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 08-Oct-2016 19:34 | TB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 02-Feb-2017 18:43 | Anon. | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 24-Jan-2018 20:56 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 24-Jan-2018 21:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 28-Jan-2018 16:40 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, ] |
| 15-Nov-2022 19:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, ] |
| 15-Nov-2022 19:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated |
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