Date:	Saturday 15 July 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Slingsby T.13 Petrel
Owner/operator:	Furness Gliding Club
Registration:	BGA 382
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Camphill, near Great Hucklow, Derbyshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Camphill, near Grest Hucklow, Derbyshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Slingsby Petrel BGA 382, Frank Charles, Furness Gliding Club; Written off (destroyed) 15/7/39 when dived into the ground on winch launch, Camphill, Derbyshire. Pilot - Frank Charles (aged 32) - was killed. Frank Charles (born 10 March 1908 Barrow-in-Furness, England - died 15 July 1939) was a former international motorcycle speedway rider who won the Star Riders' Championship in 1935 and rode in the first ever World Championship final in 1936.

At the end of the 1938 season he decided to retire to concentrate on his long-term hobby of gliding. On 15 June 1939 he made a return to the Wembley Lions team. However, after being excused a test call up, on 15 July 1939, Charles was killed whilst taking part in a national gliding competition at Camphill, near Great Hucklow, Derbyshire

According to a published account of the 1939 National Gliding Championships (see link #6)

"The 1939 Nationals at Camphill
The last Nationals held until post WW2, Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th July. This was not a good competition! Firstly the weather was poor, which is reflected in the total points for 1939 being 2797 as against 3312 in 1938 and 2924 in 1937, this despite the overall standard of pilotage being significantly better. Secondly, and very sadly, there were two fatalities.

The first fatal accident occurred on Tuesday 11th when W.E. Godson got into a spin over the site from which he could not recover. He was flying a Kestrel which he’d built from plans, it’s worth noting that all of the Wrens and Kestrels were prone to spinning if mishandled.

The second accident was on Saturday 15th when Frank Charles flying the prototype Slingsby Petrel could not release the winch cable and dived into the ground from 200 feet.".

1. Jacobs, N & Lipscombe, P (2005). Wembley Speedway : The Pre-War Years. Stroud: Tempus Publishing ISBN 0-7524-3750-X
2. Sandys, Leonard (1948) Broadside to Fame! The Drama of the Speedways, Findon, p. 17
3. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Charles_%28speedway_rider%29#Death
5. https://scalesoaring.co.uk/VINTAGE/Documentation/Slingsby%20Petrel/BGA382/album/index.html
6. http://www.glidingheritage.org.uk/documents/articles/HistoryBritishGlidingPart1v2.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Mar-2018 23:37	Dr. John Smith	Added
29-Mar-2018 23:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
30-Mar-2018 17:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]