ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 211874
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| Date: | Friday 4 February 1927 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Gloster Grebe Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 56 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | J7582 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Woodingdean, near Rottingdean, East Sussex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Gloster Grebe II J7582, 56 Squadron, RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent: Written off (destroyed) 4/2/1927 whilst on a map reading exercise, the pilot flew into a hill at Woodingdean, near Rottinghdeam, East Sussex in dense sea fog. Apparently he was thrown clear but was killed on impact with the ground. The aircraft burst into flames. Pilot and sole occupant - Pilot Officer Sidney Arthur Vernon Evans (aged 25) - was killed. According to a contemporary report in "Flight" magazine (February 10, 1927 page 77 - see link #3)
"Royal Air Force Flying Accidents
The Air Ministry regrets to announce that, as the result of an accident at Rottingdean, Sussex, to a Grebe aeroplane of No. 56 Squadron, Biggin Hill, on February 4, Pilot Officer Sidney Arthur Vernon Evans, the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft, was killed."
What adds further interest to this accident is that Pilot Officer Evans' widow was Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, the celebrity English restaurant critic, television celebrity chef and writer who frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print from 1955 to 1976. She married four times, twice bigamously. First she married Sidney A. Vernon Evans on 10 October 1926, when she was 17, he was 22.
Cradock married as "Phyllis Nan Primrose Pechey"; "Primrose Pechey" was a form passed down her father's side. Sidney Evans died in a plane crash on 4 February 1927, as stated above, leaving her pregnant with their son Peter Vernon Evans, who was adopted by his grandparents.
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1929.htm
2. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17307-RAF-fatalities-1927
3. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200089.html?search=Gomer%20Flower%20Lewis
4. http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=16922.0
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Cradock#Marriages
6. https://www.geni.com/people/Sydney-Evans/6000000015201959142
7. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?72411-Request-for-Help-Watercolour-Sketches
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodingdean
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Jun-2018 21:34 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 10-Nov-2018 07:00 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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