FighterControl

A few slides from a couple of days after it crashed on Denham golf course, June 1987. It really was immaculate and everything looked factory fresh, it was absolutely awful to see all that work completely mangled.

As I understand it, the pilot, who was relatively inexperienced in the type tried to do a touch and go at Denham - a fairly short runway. Realising he was running out of space he forced open the throttles suddenly despite protestations from the engineer/co pilot who knew they had to be opened gradually or risk (guarantee) loosing power.
It lost power, banked, hit he ground and cartwheeled. Hence the mess. I believe this was a few days after it's first flight following a 15 year rebuild, doesn't bear thinking about!
I'm happy to be corrected on the sequence or nature of the events but that's the story I've heard over the years.

Well they lived, most importantly, but I think there were some serious injuries. I didn't know anybody involved in the project and I don't have much in the way of details other than what I've read. As an aside, I was subsequently to spend a few years flying out of Denham myself and can confirm that is a relatively short runway and a 'fast' circuit as the many airspace restrictions dictate a circuit height of 750' as opposed to the normal 1000'.
Basically everything happens quickly - base, downwind, finals, bump - off you go again! Good place to learn, but in this case, unforgiving.

Graham Warner who drove the initial restoration wrote a book all about it, I think it's The Forgotten Bomber: Story of the Restoration of the World's Only Airworthy Bristol Blenheim. I read it quite a few years ago not long after the crash, a good book if you're interested in what goes into restoring a warbird. I think the description of the crash above is an accurate assessment.

ndfilter wrote:Basically everything happens quickly - base, downwind, finals, bump - off you go again!

Er, I mean downwind, base, finals (good grief)

Spent many an airshow admireing this aircraft, I was gutted to hear that it had crashed after so many years of hard work getting it into the air in the first place. No matter what the cause of the crash was, its always nice to hear that the crew got out ALIVE, even if it was avoidable. Looking forward to seeing it again in the air in the very near future.

Will it get into the air again? I thought it wasn't going to happen but I'd love to hear if it was.