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| Date: | Tuesday 19 March 1929 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.60X Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Flight Lieutenant Alf Gunnestad |
| Registration: | N-38 |
| MSN: | 428 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Calais Lighthouse, Place de Henri Barbusse, Calais -
 France
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Lympne Aerodrome, Ashford, Kent (LYM/EGMK) |
| Oslo Airport, Fornebu, Oslo, Norway (FBU/ENFB) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no 428 DH.60X Moth [Cirrus II #88] registered G-EBSU [C of R 1436] 8.8.27 to The Most Hon. the Marquess of Douglas & Clydesdale, Dungavel, Strathaven (based at Stag Lane, Edgware, Middlesex and Dungavel). C of A 1190 issued 23.8.27; delivered 24.8.27. Traded in to DeHavilland in part exchange for DH.60G G-AAEB. Registration G-EBSU cancelled 16.3.29 as sold abroad. Re-registered in Norway as N-38 13.3.29 to Flight Lieutenant Alf Gunnestad, Oslo
Written off (destroyed) 19.3.29: Crashed in fog near Calais Lighthouse, Place de Henri Barbusse, Calais and destroyed by fire. The pilot and owner Alf Gunnestad took delivery of the aircraft at Lympne, Kent and was flying back to his base in Oslo, Norway. While flying over the area of Calais, he encountered foggy conditions and lost control of the aircraft which crashed near the Calais Lighthouse. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire and the pilot was seriously injured with multiple burns injuries
The pilot survived, recovered, and had a 50-year-long aviation career; he died in 1987 aged 83. He was NOT killed in the above incident, as per some published sources. Short biography Alf Gunnestad (May 17, 1904 - August 15, 1987):
"Aviation pioneer and later District Chief of Air Traffic Control in Eastern Norway (Fornebu) Gunnestad was trained as a pilot at the Army Flying School at Kjeller in 1925, and received his commercial pilot's license in 1927. and later flew the night mail route to Copenhagen. He participated as a pilot during Lars Christensen's Thorshavn expedition in 1933/34 and the Gunnestad glacier in Dronning Maud Land is named after him. During World War II, he was active in the resistance movement and fled to Sweden in February 1945. He worked there for Norwegian police forces and became the leader of the Norwegian Ulvsunda camp. After the war, he was employed by the Civil Aviation Authority as a district manager. Gunnestad was active in aviation sports, received the Norwegian Aero Club’s badge of honor in 1969, and served as a volunteer instructor for young people who wanted to obtain a pilot’s license" (see link #1 for full biography)
Sources:
1. Alf Gunnestad – Flypioner (European Airlines Robert J M Mulder, 2017) [Norwegian language]: https://www.europeanairlines.no/product/alf-gunnestad-flypioner/
2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-E3.html
4. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-great-bitain-registers-g-eb/g-eb-part-2?highlight=WyJnLWVic3UiXQ==
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p004.html
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60x-moth-calais-1-killed
7. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EBSU.pdf
8. https://www.wikiwand.com/no/Alf_Gunnestad (Norwegian text)
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais_Lighthouse
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 09-Dec-2011 16:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Dec-2011 16:54 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 12-Aug-2017 21:41 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Aug-2017 18:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Aug-2017 19:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 21-Sep-2017 08:22 | TB | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Apr-2019 18:02 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Nov-2019 14:35 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
| 23-May-2020 20:35 | TB | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 20-Nov-2022 20:10 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ] |
| 14-Dec-2023 09:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ] |
| 14-Dec-2023 09:28 | harro | Updated [Other fatalities, Country, ] |
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