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| Date: | Saturday 26 February 1938 |
| Time: | 13:30 |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | Air Travel and Survey Pty Ltd |
| Registration: | VH-UZX |
| MSN: | 6084 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 800 yards West of Wallington Station, Beddington, Surrey, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Croydon Airport, Surrey (EGCR) |
| Croydon Airport, Surrey (EGCR) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no 6084: Built Hatfield as production Dragon II
7.34 Registered (C of R 7285/1) as G-ACVD Railway Air Services Ltd, Eastleigh Named 'Star of Cheshire'
24.7.34: C of A 4408 issued
8.37 G-ACVD purchased by Light Aircraft Pty Ltd, Camden NSW. This was one of several aviation ventures of the Macarthur Onslow family of Camden.
27.9.37:Civil Aviation Board allocated registration VH-UZX to Macarthur-Onslow for DH.84.
4.11.37: Light Aircraft Pty Ltd requested registration VH-AMO be reserved instead, to incorporate the initials of one of the directors of the company MacArthur Onslow. CAB refused the request on the grounds that the registration was too far ahead of the present allocations.
2.38 Pre-delivery overhaul completed by Air Dispatch Ltd at Croydon. Painted as VH-UZX. It was intended to use it for aerial survey and was fitted with an autopilot. Owner quoted as Air Travel and Survey Pty Ltd, Australia. VH-UZX was a Railway Air Services Dragon which crashed at Croydon on 26.2.38 prior to its delivery to Australia. It was painted up as VH-UZX in the U.K - possibly on or soon after 8.9.37, as that was the date the registration G-ACVD was cancelled by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as "sold abroad (to Australia)". It had reportedly been sold to Air Travel and Survey Pty Ltd, Australia
Crashed 800 yards west of Wallington Station, onto a railway embankment, after engine failure on approach, when coming in to land at Croydon aerodrome, London at 1.30 pm local time. According to a contemporary London Times report:
“Three men were injured when an aeroplane crashed on a railway embankment at Croydon on Saturday. They are Captain Philip Bailey, of Grove Road, Coulsdon, Surrey; Mr. Thomas Valette, 38, of West Way, Shirley, Surrey; and Mr. John Furnival, 45, of Hall Way, Purley, Surrey. The three men are in hospital, and last night their condition was stated to be satisfactory. Mr. Valette and Mr. Furnival are to undergo operations to-day. The aeroplane was the property of Air Travel and Survey Proprietary, Limited of Australia. It was intended for use in survey work, and was fitted with an auto-pilot.”
Aircraft was a total wreck. Of the three crew one - Thomas Adams Vallette (aged 38) died 20.10.38, almost eight months later, of injuries sustained. According to a contemporary newspaper report on the death of Thomas Vallette ("Daily Mirror" - Wednesday 26 October 1938):
"TRAGIC ROBOT TESTER
An open verdict was returned at the Croydon inquest yesterday on Thomas Valette, thirty-eight, experimental wireless operator, of Beechwood Court, North-street, Carshalton, Surrey, who died in Croydon General Hospital on Thursday, eight months after crashing in an aeroplane near Croydon Airport. When the plane crashed. he was testing wireless equipment on a new robot 'plane which was to be used in survey work in Australia.
Sir Bernard Spilsbury said the injuries which Valette sustained in the crash did not contribute directly to death. He had quite recovered from those injuries"
The other two - Captain Philip Bailey (pilot) and Captain John Furnival survived but were injured. Replaced by Dragon VH-AAO which departed Croydon on delivery flight to Australia 11.9.38 flown by MacArthur Onslow.
Sources:
1. Daily Mirror - Wednesday 26 October 1938
2. Northern Whig - Monday 28 February 1938
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ACVD.pdf
4. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UZX.html
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U1.html
6. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh84-pt1/dh84-dragon-pt1.htm
7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141890523/view
8. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aeroplanes/15-aeroplanes/77-register-gb-g-ac.
9. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh84-dragon-2-croydon
10. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
11. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH84.pdf
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallington_railway_station
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 29-Dec-2011 15:12 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Apr-2013 13:45 | ryan | Updated [Source, ] |
| 09-May-2014 02:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 29-Jul-2015 19:02 | TB | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, ] |
| 02-Oct-2017 21:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, ] |
| 30-Dec-2017 00:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 30-Dec-2017 00:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 30-Dec-2017 00:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, ] |
| 23-Feb-2020 22:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 23-Feb-2020 22:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 30-Oct-2022 22:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Source, Narrative, Category, ] |
| 31-May-2024 21:50 | Nepa | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator, ] |
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