Date:	Tuesday 17 May 1932
Time:	day
Type:	Saunders-Roe A.17 Cutty Sark
Owner/operator:	Seiji Yoshihara
Registration:	G-ABVF
MSN:	A17/9
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	San Francisco Bay, off Oakland, CA -   United States of America
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	San Francisco Bay, off Oakland, CA
Destination airport:	Tokyo, Japan
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Saunders-Roe A.17 Cutty Sark A17/9: Registered G-ABVF 21 March 1932 (C of R 3664) and sold early May 1932 to the Japanese aviator Seiji Yoshihara. Aircraft was named 'Hochi-Nippon' for a non-stop USA-Japan flight. This machine bore the British registration of G-ABVF for test flying at Cowes. C of A 3398 issued 30.3.32. It was constructed as a flying boat only, and fitted with blind flying equipment and long-range tanks was the only single-engine version of the Cutty Sark, powered by a 240 hp Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVC.

Probably for political reasons, the aircraft retained its UK registration throughout its life, as legally, it was "an export to Japan", although it also wore the Japanese "Rising Sun" logo on one wing and the US "Stars and Stripes" on the other (presumably a nod to the intended USA-Japan Trans-pacific flight). The Air Ministry record card does not record any sale to a third party, being registered throughout to "Saunders-Roe Ltd., East Cowes, Isle of Wight".

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 17 May 1932. Lost control at 100ft and crashed into San Francisco Bay, off Oakland, CA. Pilot Seiji Yoshihara and machanic T. Oshi survived but injured. As reported at the time in a contemporary newspaper (Miami News-Record from Miami, Oklahoma 17 May 1932, Page 9 see link #1):

"'JAPAN'S LINDBERGH' HURT IN CRASH
HOCHI NIPPON SEIJI YOSHIHARA AND PLANE
OAKLAND, May 17
Seiji Yoshihara, 29-year-old "Lindbergh of Japan," was in a hospital here today and the seaplane in which he planned a Seattle-Tokyo flight was a wreck. He crashed in an attempted take-off yesterday. The plane, just after leaving the take-off channel, slipped down on one wing from an altitude of 100 feet and fell on a nearby stretch of land. Yoshihara received a broken arm and was bruised. His mechanic, T. Oshi, a Stanford university graduate, suffered a broken arm"

Registration G-ABVF cancelled by Air Ministry 2 December 1932 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"

1. Miami News-Record from Miami, Oklahoma 17 May 1932, Page 9: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/5905078/
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ABVF.pdf
3. https://www.airhistory.net/registration/G-ABVF
4. https://aeropedia.com.au/content/saro-cutty-sark/
5. https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/08/saro-cutty-sark-special-1932-yoshihara.html
6. Photo: https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/08/saro-cutty-sark-special-1932-yoshihara.html
7. https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions//Shumaker/12279.htm
8. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/Saunders-Roe_pre-war.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saro_Cutty_Sark#Production_aircraft
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland,_California

Saro A.17 Cutty Sark G-ABVF 'Hochi Nippon'

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-May-2021 13:22	Cobar	Added
09-Jul-2025 17:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ]
10-Jul-2025 06:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ]
19-Jul-2025 06:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport, Embed code, ]