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| Date: | Tuesday 5 May 1925 |
| Time: | 15:00 |
| Type: | Blackburn Kangaroo |
| Owner/operator: | North Sea Aerial & General Transport Ltd |
| Registration: | G-EAIT |
| MSN: | BK/33/AS/746 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Brough Aerodrome, Brough, East Yorkshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Brough, East Yorkshire (EGNB) |
| Brough, East Yorkshire (EGNB) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Ex-RAF B9978. First registered (C of R 228) as G-EAIT on 1.8.19 to North Sea Aerial & General Transport Ltd., Brough, East Yorkshire.
On 5th May 1925 the pilot of this aircraft was undertaking a refresher training course for RAF Reserve pilot having not flown for some time. Prior to the accident he had been given some dual training with an instructor on board. After landing, the instructor leaving the aircraft the pilot was cleared to fly solo again so took off from Brough at 15.00hrs. The aircraft climbed normally to between three and four hundred feet when the port engine appeared to people on the ground to be failing. The aircraft descended normally but then dived into the ground around four hundred yards from the edge of Brough aerodrome. Mechanics from the airfield saw the crash and ran to the aircraft, they found the pilot had been thrown from the wreckage and was still alive but to the nature of these injuries he died a few minutes later. Newspaper reports from the time state that he was flying solo.
According to a contemporary report in "Flight" magazine (May 14, 1925 page 297 - see link #3):
"R.A.F. Flying Accidents
THE Air Ministry regrets to announce the following flying accidents:— As'a result of an accident at Brough, at 3 00 pm , on May 5, to a Blackburn Kangaroo machine, Flying Officer Hugh Crichton McDonald, Reserve of Air Force' Officers, the pilot of the aircraft, was killed"
Registration G-EAIT cancelled same day (5.5.1925) due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"
Hugh McDonald was born on 28th September 1898 at Carluke, Lanarkshire. He appears to have served during WW1 and was transferred to the RAF Reserve of Officers in September 1924. He had only just arrived at Brough to undertake pilot training on 4th May 1925 and had been given just sixty-five minutes dual control training prior to his death. The flight in which he died was his first made solo for some years.
Sources:
1. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-blackburn-rt1-kangaroo-brough-1-killed
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EAIT.pdf
3. (Paywall) https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1925/1925%20-%200297.html?search=Blackburn%20Kangaroo
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-E.html
5. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aeroplanes/15-aeroplanes/81-register-gb-g-ea
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1929.htm
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17305-RAF-fatalities-1925
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Kangaroo#Post-World_War_I
9. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/286000/
10. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york20/eait.html
11. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-blackburn-rt1-kangaroo-brough-1-killed
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brough_Aerodrome#History
Location
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 13-Dec-2013 23:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 26-May-2018 21:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 26-May-2018 22:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 19-May-2024 09:14 | Nepa | Updated [Time, Location, Operator, ] |
| 26-Jul-2025 16:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code, Category, ] |
| 29-Jul-2025 06:27 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Nature, Source, Narrative, ] |
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