Date:	Monday 1 May 1950
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.108 Swallow
Owner/operator:	de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd
Registration:	TG283
MSN:	01
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hartley Wintney, 3 miles NW of Fleet, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The DH108 established a number of "firsts" for a British aircraft: it was the first British swept-winged jet aircraft and the first British tailless jet aircraft. The first DH 108 prototype, serial number TG283, (painted as "TG/283") utilising a De Havilland Vampire fuselage and a 43-degree swept wing, first flew on 15 May 1946 at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Designed to investigate low-speed handling of a swept wing tail-less aircraft configuration, it was capable of only 280 mph (450 km/h). The de Havilland Chief Test Pilot Geoffrey de Havilland Jr., son of de Havilland company owner-designer Geoffrey de Havilland, gave a display flight in the DH 108 during the 1946 Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) airshow at Radlett, Hertfordshire.

In later low-speed testing designed to clear the rear fuselage at high angles of attack, the first prototype was fitted with longer Sea Vampire landing gear.

On 1 May 1950, during low-speed side-slip and stall tests, the first prototype DH.108, TG283, was lost in a crash at Hartley Wintney, Hampshire killing the pilot, Squadron Leader George E.C. Genders AFC DFM. One 'clean' and one 'dirty' stall were executed, but the aircraft fell out of the latter in an inverted spin. Only one anti-spin chute streamed. After abandoning the aircraft at low altitude in an inverted spin, the pilot's parachute failed to open in time.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Western Morning News - Tuesday 2 May 1950):

"Last of 'Flying Wings' crashes.
FATAL JUMP BY PILOT.
THE last of the De Havilland Flying Wings. officially known as "D.H. 108," crashed yesterday at Hartley Wintney, nine miles from Basingstoke. The pilot, S/Ldr. G. E. C. Genders, was killed. The machine, the third of this type to be produced, crashed 20 minutes after taking off from Farnborough. The plane is the same type as the one in which Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland was killed over the Thames Estuary in 1946, when, it was believed, he was travelling faster than the speed of sound. The second of the same type broke up in mid-air in February when the pilot, S/Ldr. J. S. R. Muller-Rowland, was killed.

PARACHUTE FAILED.
Mr. D. A. Lewcock, at Hartley Wintney Council offices, yesterday said: "There was a terrific swish then silence. Then there was a huge bang before it crashed. The pilot came spinning round and round with the plane."

Mr. A. R. Wolsey said the machine was "whirling around in the air like a windmill. It appeared to me that the pilot-was trying to avoid the houses over which the plane skimmed before he jumped. He was 200 ft. up when he did get out, but his parachute did not open. The machine landed in a field within 100 yards of a row of houses, and then burst into flames. The pilot dropped close to the machine and was pulled away."

Squadron Leader Genders, who was 30, was awarded the D.F.M. for shooting down seven enemy aircraft in Greece, Crete, and the Western Desert. He was awarded the A.F.C. in 1949."

The reported crash location of Hartley Wintney is a village civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Fleet and 8 miles (13 km) east of Basingstoke.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_DH_108
2. The Indian Express 3 May 1950, p 5
3. Watkins, David. de Havilland Vampire: The Complete History. Thrupp, Stroud, UK: Budding Books, 1996. ISBN 1-84015-023-8. (pp 39 & 42)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 233/19: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424140
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/30/S2493: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578339
6. National Archives (PRO kew) File AVIA 6/16903: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4027224
7. https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/de-havilland-dh108-swallow
8. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=202
9. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6060.0
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Wintney
11. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Dec-2018 20:24	TB	Added
22-Oct-2019 21:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
21-Dec-2019 22:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
04-Feb-2020 00:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]