Test Flying Memorial
"...and everywhere the
blue sky belongs to them
and is their appointed rest
and their native country"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
| Date | 14/09/1948 |
|---|---|
| Casualties | Sqn Ldr R.W. Whittome OBE DFC, Aero Flight RAE Farnborough TP |
| Aircraft | Supermarine Spitfire HFIX NH236 |
| Took off from | Farnborough, Hampshire |
| Purpose of flight | Determining propeller performance at high Mach numbers |
| Incident location | Woking, Surrey |
| Incident details | Pilot suffered a paradoxical reaction to hypoxia during an out-of-trim high-speed dive. Aircraft was severely overstressed before impacting ground |