The deadly Farnborough Airshow crash of 1952
Dozens were killed in the Farnborough air crash of 1952. What caused the plane to go out of control, and how did the disaster impact aviation safety rules?
Image: A de Havilland Sea Vixen at the Duxford Air Festival in 2017. The Sea Vixen was developed from the de Havilland DH.110, a prototype of which broke up in flight during the 1952 Farnborough Airshow. Credit: “sv3” by wallycacsabre (Walter Civitico). Source: Flickr. Cropped by Sky HISTORY. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 .
Even before the Wright brothers’ pioneering work with aerospace technology in the early 20th century, humanity has long been obsessed with taking to the skies. However, the invention of the airplane in particular has transformed many aspects of life - from travel to war to entertainment.
It’s easy to think that flying displays - where pilots take their planes through a range of stunning aerobatic manoeuvres - are just harmless fun. Most of these high-altitude performances do go without a hitch. On occasion, though, they have ended in disaster. One notable example from recent memory is the Shoreham air crash, which claimed 11 fatalities in August 2015.
More than six decades earlier, the usually sleepy Hampshire town of Farnborough was at the heart of an even deadlier aviation calamity. More than 30 people lost their lives in what has become known as the Farnborough Airshow crash. We at Sky HISTORY are now looking back at what happened - and how it shaped safety rules surrounding British airshows.
Just another normal day in Farnborough?
On the morning of 6th September 1952, it seems unlikely that anyone even suspected how tragically wrong things were about to go. It was the sixth day of the Farnborough Airshow, which had been held annually since 1948. Today, the show takes place every even-numbered year, alternating with the Paris Air Show.
John Derry and Anthony Richards had especially good reasons to be excited. Derry was an experienced aviator, having served in World War II, where he assisted in liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. For this feat, the Dutch government awarded him the prestigious Bronze Lion military honour.
Back in September 1948, Derry had become the first Briton to fly faster than the speed of sound, flying a de Havilland DH.108. Now, in 1952, he and Richards were reuniting for an air display at Farnborough. The prototype de Havilland DH.110 aircraft they were set to use on the big day was ready and waiting - or so it initially appeared.
A minor setback… or a momentous decision?
At the last minute, the DH.110 developed a fault. However, rather than abandoning flying for the day, it turned out that the de Havilland Aircraft Company had another DH.110 for Derry to use. It was an even earlier prototype than the other one, but the pilot saw no reason to worry. The older plane had already been successfully put to the supersonic test multiple times over.
This was handy, because Derry’s own aerobatics that day would include a supersonic dive, which he went on to perform with aplomb. The problems started when Derry pulled into a climb at roughly 450 knots. The starboard wing started breaking away, followed by the port wing. The two engines and cockpit also disconnected from the airframe, sending all these individual components falling dramatically towards the ground.
Though one of the engines landed harmlessly in a sparse area, the other went hurtling into a crowd of spectators. Those consequently killed accounted for the majority of the Farnborough Airshow crash’s 31 fatalities — 29 spectators as well as Derry and Richards themselves. Dozens more were injured and received medical attention. Despite all this chaos, the airshow picked up where it left off once the crash site had been cleared of debris.
The legacy of the Farnborough air crash
An inquiry after the crash exonerated Derry from any blame. The true cause of the plane’s unexpected disintegration was found to be an undiagnosed flaw in the design of the wing. Unsurprisingly, this only motivated the de Havilland company’s concerted efforts to iron out any lingering dangerous creases in the DH.110’s design. The result was the DH.110 Sea Vixen model, which won the Royal Navy’s stamp of approval.
Meanwhile, safety measures for British airshows were bolstered. Now, jets in flying displays needed to be kept at an altitude of at least 150m (490ft) during performances. Pilots were also given new rules on how far to keep their in-air planes away from spectators. The new ‘safe’ minimum distances would be 230m (750ft) when flying in a straight line and 450m (1,480ft) during manoeuvres.
The Farnborough disaster remains the most lethal British airshow crash in history. Nonetheless, at the Shoreham Airshow in 2015, a jet similarly fell from the sky in the middle of an aerobatic display. This led safety regulations to be tightened yet again.
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