"Bob (not my real pseudonym)" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 12:04:00 +0100, "Dingo"
wrote:


"Joseph Testagrose" wrote in message
. ..


Sadly, this one crashed at the Farnborough Air Show in Setember 1964.
Here's
a snap I took shortly after impact. Now resident at the RAF Museum,
Hendon.
I believe the only other Bulldog is in a Finnish Museum.

Many thanx, Joseph, for this series. Great stuff !!
~~
Dingo ;~)

That doesn't look survivable. Please tell me I'm wrong...

Bob ^,,^

Surprising as it may look, I'm pleased to say, you *are* wrong, Bob.

Full history of this a/c will be found at:
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/c...%20Bulldog.pdf

Part of which sez ...... "the pilot had little chance of recovery" ~ true ~
" and the aircraft crashed through the crowd barrier from the outside" ~ not
as I saw it from a distance of about 200yds. As can be seen from my snap,
the a/c *is* close to the crowdline barriers but coming down almost in the
vertical, the point of impact is the closest it came to the barriers.

"the pilot, Ian Williamson, escaping with cuts and bruises." Fortunately,
that seemed to be the case as he was waving to us (the crowd) from the back
of the ambulance just before it pulled away.

Apart from the crash itself, there are two things which are permanently
etched in my memory:

1. The silence following the impact. Given there was a crowd of perhaps
100,000+, it was so silent one could have heard a pin drop on the grass.

2. The speed at which the crash crews attended the scene. I am 99% certain
they were on the move before the a/c hit the ground. Perhaps, like me, they
knew what was about to happen.
~~
Dingo