Date:	Saturday 30 June 1934
Time:	day
Type:	Avro 504N
Owner/operator:	National Aviation Day Ltd
Registration:	G-ACRS
MSN:	K1802
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Cove, near Aldershot, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Farnborough, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Ex-RAF Avro 504N K1802 (former RAF serial used by the Air Ministry in lieu of any official c/n). RAF service was: delivered 23.9.30, and service with the OUAS (Oxford University Air Squadron) RAF as "H". To RAF Kenley Station Flight 11.12.33. Struck off charge 23.4.34 and sold for civilian use.

First registered (C of R 5015) on 2.5.34 as G-ACRS to National Aviation Day Ltd., London WC.2 (aircraft based at Ford Aerodrome, Yapton, Arundel, West Sussex). C of A 4295 issued May 1934. Aircraft had Yellow fuselage, silver wings with black letters, and was fitted with a Mongoose engine.

This aircraft had a short civilian life: on 30.6.34, less than two months later, G-ACRS was written off (damaged beyond repair) when it crashed at Cove, near Aldershot, Hampshire. The pilot, Captain William Mackay (aged 34) died the next day (1.7.34) of injuries sustained.

A contemporary newspaper report gives further details (Western Morning News - Monday 2 July 1934):

"CRASH IN AIR DISPLAY
FATAL INJURIES SUSTAINED BY PILOT
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.
ALDERSHOT, Sunday.
Capt. W. Mackay, aged 35, of Liverpool, who crashed yesterday while giving a "crazy" flying display at Cove, near Aldershot, died this morning in the Farnborough and Cove War Memorial Hospital. Capt. Mackay's display was one of the items of Sir Alan Cobham's aviation performance.

Although at the time there were some 3,000 spectators on the aerodrome, no one saw the actual accident, as the machine struck the ground in a field some 200 yards away - narrowly missing about 50 cows - and behind a screen of tall trees.

The item was No. 13 on the programme.

An official of the aerodrome said that Capt. Mackay was conscious when taken from the wrecked machine, and able to explain the cause of the accident. He said to his rescuers, "Go and look in the cockpit and you will find the joystick jammed in the corner."

The jamming took place, the official explained, while Capt. Mackay was doing a violent spin".

Registration G-ACRS cancelled 30.6.34 (same day) due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft".

1. Western Morning News - Monday 2 July 1934 (report of accident)
2. Nottingham Evening Post - Tuesday 3 July 1934 (Inquest into death of pilot)
3. The K File: The Royal Air Force of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1995 p.119)
4. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/77-register-gb-g-ac
5. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ACRS.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A5.html
7. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
8. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
9. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=16587.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Dec-2017 22:53	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-May-2018 18:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
24-May-2018 18:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
24-Mar-2020 00:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]