ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 189541
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| Date: | Friday 21 July 1939 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Kent Flying Club |
| Registration: | G-ABJZ |
| MSN: | 1842 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Beeches Wood, Tilmanstone, near Deal, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Berkesbourne Aerodrome, Canterbury, Kent |
| Berkesbourne Aerodrome, Canterbury, Kent |
C/no. 1842 DH.60G [Gipsy II]: Registered as G-ABJZ [C of R 3070] March 1931 to Leslie J Marr, Stanley Park. C of A 2958 issued 27.3.31. Sold (pre-1935) to H.E. Hudson, Castle Bromwich. Registered [C of R 6128] 27.7.35 to John G. Underwood, Heston. Registered [C of R 7369] 25.9.36 to Airsales & Service Ltd, Bekesbourne. Re-registered [C of R 7424] 31.10.36 to Ivan C Randrup, Bekesbourne. Re-registered [C of R 8610] 5.7.38 to Airsales & Service Ltd, and operated by Kent Flying Club, Bekesbourne.
Destroyed is a Mid-air collision with Hawker Hind K5418 (of RAF Oxford University Air Squadron) over Beeches Wood, Tilmanstone, near Deal, Kent 21.7.39; 3 killed, including Keith Kendall "K.K." Brown, Chief Flying Instructor, Kent Flying Club, and passenger/pupil pilot Donovon William Alan Pragnell, on board Moth G-ABJZ. The Hind was on a map-reading exercise between Dover and Dymchurch when it was struck from above and behind by a Gypsy Moth of the Kent Flying Club.
It appeared that the tail of one aircraft came into contact with the other aircraft over Tilmanstone and both crashed to the ground, the Moth landing separately from its engine, which was carried 200 yards from the plane. The Hind lost its tail and the pilot landed about 20 yards from his aircraft, while the tail fell in a cornfield about 50 yards beyond the Gypsy Moth. Both machines were completely wrecked. According to a contemporary newspaper report, which covered the inquest into the three fatalities ("Dover Express" - Friday 28 July 1939):
"THE AIR COLLISION AT TILMANSTONE.
INQUEST ON THREE VICTIMS.
Three men - two of them volunteer members of the air defence of the country — lost their lives in a tragic air crash at Tilmanstone on Friday. It appears that two machines collided in mid-air and as they fell into a cornfield near Beeches Wood, the three occupants were killed instantly. The dead men were Keith Kendle Brown (38), of St. Michaels, Castle Road, Hythe, the chief instructor of the Kent Flying Club, Bekesbourne, Donovan William Alan Pragnell (44) of St. Martin's, Stodmarsh Road, Canterbury a member of the Civil Air Guard, who was receiving flying tuition from Mr. Brown in a Gipsy II Moth, and David Curig Lewis (21) an Oxford undergraduate, of Porthkerry, near Barry, Glamorgan, a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, the sole occupant of the other aeroplane, a Hawker Hind,
The Deputy East Kent Coroner (Mr. A. K. Mowll) opened the inquest at Eastry Institution on Saturday afternoon and after taking evidence of identification and medical evidence, adjourned the inquiry for a week. Mr. J. H. Bermingham Young appeared for Pragnell's relatives. The jury comprised Messrs. F. M. Tordiff (foreman), A. V. Lister, J. Betts, S. Voysden, F. A. Butcher, A. P. Burton, G. L. Page, A. W. Cook and H. S. Couchman. The coroner said that as the evidence had not been completed, he proposed only to call evidence of identity and the doctor. He would like, at once, to express his sympathy, and, he was certain, the sympathy of everybody in the Court, in the terrible tragedy. One of the deceased was a client of his and well-known to him, and it was a great shock when he heard of his sudden death.
It appeared that a collision occurred in mid-air over a cornfield adjoining Beeches Wood, Tilmanstone, between a Hind aeroplane, piloted by Lewis, who was in camp at Lympne, and a Gipsy Moth, flown by Brown. Of what flying experience Lewis had he (the coroner) had at the moment no information. Brown was a flying instructor of the Kent Flying Club at the Canterbury Aerodrome, Bekesbourne, and was, he expected, a man of very considerable experience and had in his machine the other deceased man, Pragnell. These two machines came into contact over Tilmanstone, with the result that both the machines crashed to the ground and all three occupants were immediately killed. According to the report the Gipsy Moth aeroplane, when it crashed, was minus the engine, which was carried about 200 yards from the machine, and the Hind was minus the tail. The pilot of the Hind was found about 20 yards from the wreckage of his machine, whereas the tail of the aeroplane fell in a cornfield about 50 yards beyond the Gipsy Moth. Both aeroplanes were totally wrecked. So it looked as if the tail of one machine came into contact with the other. They would have further evidence with regard to that. They should remember that those inquiries were for two purposes, first to find out the cause of death and the other to find out whether anybody was flying so carelessly or so recklessly as to be the means of the death of the other persons. But, of course, when the three persons had been unfortunately killed that could not worry them at all and it was not part of their work his to decide anything in regard to the liability that would in course arise in the civil courts as to whether both aeroplanes were to blame or only one.
Alexander Robert Ramsay, of Woodlands Cottage, Adisham, Manager of Air Sales and Service, Ltd., proprietors of the Kent Flying Club, Bekesbourne, identified the body of Brown, who was the chief instructor of the Club. He had previously been chief instructor at the Cinque Ports Flying Club, Lympne, and before that he was a flying officer in the R.A.F. He was a very experienced pilot, and had been with the Kent Flying Club for two years. Witness also identified the body of Pragnell, retired glass and china merchant. He was a member of the Civil Air Guard and as such was learning to fly at Bekesbourne Aerodrome. It was the fifth time he had been up. It was a dual-control machine, a Gipsy II Moth biplane, in which deceased sat behind the instructor. Witness saw the aeroplane go up at approximately 11.30 a.m. Both men were then in good health as far as he knew.
Frederick Lionel Benbow Hebbert, Wing Commander, Royal Air Force, stationed at Lympne Airport, identified the body of Lewis, who, he said, was an undergraduate of Worcester College, Oxford, and a pilot officer in the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve. He had done 77 hours flying, of which 51 hours had been on his own. Witness had not seen him flying. Deceased arrived at Lympne on Sunday, July 16th. Witness last saw him the evening before the accident and he was then in perfect health.
Dr. D. M. M. Fraser, of Eastry, said he examined the three bodies at 4.30 p.m. on Friday at the Eastry Mortuary. The principal injury to Brown was a fracture of the base of the skull and there were multiple other injuries, consistent with having fallen from a height, but not a relatively great height, perhaps 200 feet or 300 feet. The cause of death was the fracture of the base of the skull. In regard to Pragnell, the principal injury was also a fracture of the base of the skull, which was the cause of death, with multiple other injuries. The chief injury to Lewis and the cause of death, was a fracture-dislocation of the neck, and he also had multiple other injuries. In all cases death must have been instantaneous. The coroner then adjourned the inquest until 10 a.m. on Saturday."
The pilot of the Hind, Pilot-Officer D. C. Lewis RAFVR, and the Chief Flying Instructor of the Kent Flying Club along with his pupil, died in the accident. Registration G-ABJZ cancelled 25.7.39.
NOTE: Some sources state in error that FOUR persons were killed (two in the Hind, two in the Moth). However, there was only one person (the pilot) on board Hawker Hind K5418, making a total of three fatalities. The above newspaper report in the Dover Express Friday 28 July 1939 - reporting into the Inquest of the casualties - confirms that there were three fatalities
Sources:
1. Dover Express - Friday 28 July 1939
2. http://www.santafe.gov.ar/hemerotecadigital/diario/18563/
3. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
4. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-gb-registers-g-ab/g-ab-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWFianoiXQ==
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A2.htmll
6. http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10567.0
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-gipsy-moth-tilmanstone-2-killed
8. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ABJZ.pdf
9. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilmanstone
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Aug-2016 13:19 | TB | Added |
| 18-Aug-2017 21:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Aug-2017 21:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 27-Jul-2023 09:03 | Nepa | Updated [[Narrative]] |
| 30-Sep-2023 18:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[[Narrative]]] |
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