Date:	Tuesday 29 April 1947
Time:	19:55 LT
Type:	Airspeed AS.65 Consul
Owner/operator:	Milburn Air Ltd
Registration:	G-AIOZ
MSN:	4335
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Botley Hill, Tatsfield, near Limpsfield, Surrey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LBG/LFPB)
Destination airport:	Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey (EGCR)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Airspeed AS.65 Consul MSN 4335 ex-RAF Oxford PK283. Never saw any RAF service. Sold to Airspeed Ltd before delivery. First civil Registered 9.12.46 as G-AOIZ to Airspeed Ltd. Re-registered 10.1.47 to Grayson Air Services Ltd, Denham. C of A 8805 issued 23.1.47. Registered 3.3.47 to Ian R.K. MacLaren, Bracknell; joint owner with Reginald Alan Milburn of operator Milburn Air Ltd, Croydon.

Crashed at Botley Hill, (400 yards South West of Botley Hill crossroads) Tatsfield, near Limpsfield, Surrey 29.4.47, whilst en-route from Le Bourget to Croydon. Botley Hill is a hill in Surrey and is the highest point of the North Downs with a height of 269.6 metres (885 ft). The Prime Meridian crosses the hill.

Both persons on board killed; Reginald A. Milburn (pilot and joint owner), and Mr. John H. Hale (passenger). According to a contemporary newspaper report of the inquest into the death of the pilot ("Liverpool Echo" Friday 2 May 1947):

"DID PILOT FAINT?
INQUEST TOLD OF HIS ARTERIES DISEASE
The pilot of an aircraft which crashed at Tisey Plantation, near Limpsfield (Surrey), was at the Caterham inquest to-day said to be suffering from a disease of the arteries which could cause attacks of faintness or dizziness.

Both the pilot, Reginald Alan Milburn, aged 30, director of Milburnair. Ltd., of Hunts Green, Lowfield Heath, Surrey, and wireless operator John Marshall Hale, aged 24, of Woodstock Road, St. Albans (Herts.), were killed.

The aircraft, an Airspeed Consul, crashed when rain and mist limited visibility.

Dr. Richard Pearce, pathologist, said that Milburn had atheroma of the coronary arteries—an unusual disease in a man of his age.
The coroner (Dr. Cyril Barton).— Would anything in the nature of fainting or a dizzy attack have resulted?
Dr. Pearce.—It is possible. It is more likely that the symptoms would arise during physical exertion
Mr. Charles Barton Gower Peachmont, air charter manager, of Milburnair. Ltd., said that the aircraft was new and in first-class condition.

Recording verdicts of accidental death, the coroner, Dr Cyril Baron, referred to evidence by the pathologist that Reginald Alan Milburn, the pilot, had "very marked disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscles."

"There is nothing in the evidence," he said, "which suggests that this crash could have been caused by any illness of the pilot."

It seemed probable that the pilot, in conditions of very limited visibility, came down rather low to ascertain where he was and crashed into the high ground. The inquest was adjourned until May 23 for technical evidence."

The following newspaper report covers the resumed inquest ("Dundee Evening Telegraph - Friday 23 May 1947)

Pilot's Mother Asks About Danger Spot.
Mrs Milburn, mother of a pilot who, together with the other occupant of a plane, was killed when the machine crashed at Limpsfield, Surrey, on April 29, gave evidence at the resumed inquest to-day at Caterham.

"I want to know," she asked, "why planes are directed over that dangerous spot. So many planes have been lost there, and yet they continue to send them."

Recording verdicts of accidental death, the coroner, Dr Cyril Baron, referred to evidence by the pathologist that Reginald Alan Milburn, the pilot, had "very marked disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscles."

"There is nothing in the evidence," he said, "which suggests that this crash could have been caused by any illness of the pilot."

It seemed probable that the pilot, in conditions of very limited visibility, came down rather low to ascertain where he was and crashed into the high ground."

Registration cancelled 15.8.47 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"

1. The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 2001 p 196)
2. Dundee Evening Telegraph - Friday 23 May 1947
3. Liverpool Echo - Friday 2 May 1947
4. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_oxford_&_consul.pdf
5. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AIOZ.pdf
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as65-consul-tatsfield-2-killed
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Consul#Accidents_and_incidents
8. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14133.0
9. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/1744: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C575898
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botley_Hill

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
05-Sep-2010 02:17	J Hale	Updated [Date, Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Damage]
07-Dec-2011 09:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative]
13-Dec-2011 19:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
03-May-2017 20:40	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
20-Mar-2019 21:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
25-Nov-2019 23:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
25-Nov-2019 23:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
28-Feb-2020 17:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]