Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 10 December 1935 |
Summary | Pilot error |
Site | Tatsfield, Surrey, England 51°18′07″N0°01′50″E / 51.3020°N 0.0305°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Savoia-Marchetti S.73 |
Operator | SABENA |
Registration | OO-AGN |
Flight origin | Brussels Airport, Belgium |
Destination | Croydon Airport, United Kingdom |
Passengers | 7 |
Crew | 4 |
Fatalities | 11 |
Survivors | 0 |
The 1935 SABENA Savoia-Marchetti S.73 crash occurred on 10 December 1935 when Savoia-Marchetti S.73 OO-AGN of Belgian airline SABENA crashed at Tatsfield, Surrey, England, while on an international scheduled flight from Brussels Airport Haren, Belgium to Croydon Airport, United Kingdom. All eleven passengers and crew were killed.
The accident aircraft was Savoia-Marchetti S.73 OO-AGN, c/n 30004. The aircraft had entered service on 6 May 1935. [1]
The aircraft was operating an international scheduled service from Haren Airport in Brussels to Croydon, the main airport of London. Between 16:30 and 17:00 GMT, the aircraft crashed into the large garden of a house Mosscroft, Kemsley Road, Tatsfield, close to its aerial beacon and north of the village towards Biggin Hill. [2] The aircraft crashed into the north-sloping hillside at about 500 feet (150 m), 140 feet (43 m) below the top of the hill. Witnesses who heard the aircraft in flight stated that the engines were not running smoothly. [3] Other aircraft flying that night had encountered icing of their wings. [4] All eleven people on board were killed in the accident. Police and ambulances from Biggin Hill, Oxted and Tatsfield attended. It was the early hours of 11 December before all the victims' bodies had been recovered. [2] A number of sightseers looted portions of the wreckage for souvenirs, which was criticised by Major Cooper, the Air Ministry inspector in charge of the investigation into the accident. Evidence given at the inquest indicated that the aircraft had stalled, with the engines not at full power at the time of the accident. Carburettor icing was ruled out as a cause of the accident. [3]
A temporary mortuary was set up in St Lawrence's Church, Caterham. Identification of all victims was by means of passports and other identity papers they were carrying. [5] The inquest into the deaths of the victims opened in Caterham on 16 January 1936. Evidence was given that the pilot was experienced, having been employed by SABENA since 1927. No distress calls had been made by radio. Verdicts of "accidental death" were returned in all cases. [3]
Among the casualties was British engineer and tank designer Sir John Carden, joint owner of aircraft manufacturer Carden-Baynes, [6] and a director of Vickers-Armstrongs. [2] Another victim was Eugène Samyn, 48-year-old, textile manufacturer, on a business trip to London.
Dutch middleweight boxing champion Florend Willems was scheduled to be on the flight. Instead, he decided to travel by boat. He was due to fight Jack Hyams in Stepney on 11 December. [5]
Nationality | Crew | Passengers | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Belgian | 4 | 1 | 5 |
English | – | 6 | 6 |
Total | 4 | 7 | 11 |
The final report into the accident concluded that pilot error was the main cause, with weather a contributory factor. The pilot had become lost and stalled while trying to execute a sharp climbing turn, possibly in an effort to avoid flying into terrain. [7] When the aircraft stalled, the passengers would have been thrown forwards, which might have made recovery from the stall harder. [8]
Biggin Hill is a settlement on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Kent, prior to 1965 it was also in the administrative county of Kent. It is situated beyond London's urban sprawl, 15.2 miles (24.5 km) south-southeast of Charing Cross, with Keston to the north, New Addington to the north-west and Tatsfield, in the neighbouring county of Surrey, to the south. At the 2011 Census, Biggin Hill had a population of 9,951.
The Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne, better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, SN Brussels Airlines was formed through a takeover of former subsidiary Delta Air Transport and took over part of Sabena's assets in February 2002, which became Brussels Airlines after a merger with Virgin Express in March 2007. The airline's corporate headquarters were located in the Sabena House on the grounds of Brussels Airport in Zaventem.
London Biggin Hill Airport is an international airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located 12 NM south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small enclave on the airport still retains that designation.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1935:
On 16 November 1937 a Junkers Ju 52/3m owned by Belgian airline SABENA, operating as a scheduled international passenger flight from Munich, Germany, to London, England, crashed near Ostend, Belgium. The aircraft hit a tall factory chimney while attempting to land at Stene aerodrome near Ostend, Belgium. The accident killed prominent members of the Hesse royal family on the way to London for the wedding of Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine.
American Eagle Flight 4184, officially operating as Simmons Airlines Flight 4184, was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Indianapolis, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois, United States. On October 31, 1994, the ATR 72 performing this route flew into severe icing conditions, lost control and crashed into a field. All 68 people aboard were killed in the high-speed impact.
Belgian International Air Services was a Belgian airline with its headquarters in Antwerp and Brussels. It was operational between 1959 and 1980 and offered mainly passenger and cargo air charter flights from Brussels Airport to the former Belgian colonies in Central Africa.
Tatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is located 3.3 miles north west of Westerham and 3.9 miles north east of Oxted, and is adjacent to the Surrey border with both Greater London and Kent.
The Savoia-Marchetti S.73 was an Italian three-engine airliner that flew in the 1930s and early 1940s. The aircraft entered service in March 1935 with a production run of 48 aircraft. Four were exported to Belgium for SABENA, while seven others were produced by SABCA. The main customer was the Italian airline Ala Littoria.
Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s.
Wadi Halfa Airport is an airport serving Wadi Halfa in Sudan. The airport is approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) east of Wadi Halfa.
Lympne Airport, was a military and later civil airfield, at Lympne, Kent, United Kingdom, which operated from 1916 to 1984. During the First World War RFC Lympne was originally an acceptance point for aircraft being delivered to, and returning from, France but was later designated as a First Class Landing Ground, RAF Lympne. It became a civil airfield in 1919 and saw the operation of early air mail services after the 1918 armistice. It was one of the first four airfields in the United Kingdom with customs facilities.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 was the fatal crash of a Boeing 727 in the eastern United States on December 1, 1974 in Harriman State Park near Stony Point, New York, just north of the New York City area. The Northwest Airlines 727 had been chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts professional football team in Buffalo in western New York.
The Meopham Air Disaster occurred on 21 July 1930 when a Junkers F.13ge flying from Le Touquet to Croydon with two crew and four passengers crashed near Meopham, Kent with the loss of all on board. The report of the inquiry into the accident was made public, the first time in the United Kingdom that an accident report was published.
The 1933 Imperial Airways Ruysselede crash occurred on 30 December 1933 when an Imperial Airways Avro Ten collided with one of the radio masts of Belradio at Ruysselede, West Flanders, Belgium and crashed killing all ten people on board. The aircraft was operating an international scheduled passenger flight from Cologne, Germany to London, England via Brussels, Belgium.
The 1929 Luft Hansa Junkers G.24 crash occurred on 6 November 1929 when a Junkers G 24 of Luft Hansa crashed at Godstone, Surrey, United Kingdom while on an international scheduled flight from Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom to Amsterdam-Schiphol Municipal Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Of the eight people on board, Glen Kidston was the only survivor.
Ramsgate Airport was a civil airfield at Ramsgate, Kent, United Kingdom which opened in July 1935. It was briefly taken over by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, becoming RAF Ramsgate. The airfield was then closed and obstructed to prevent its use. It reopened in 1953 and served until final closure in 1968. The site has now been redeveloped as an industrial estate.
The 1923 Daimler Airway de Havilland DH.34 crash occurred on 14 September 1923 when a de Havilland DH.34 of Daimler Airway operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Croydon to Manchester crashed at Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, England, killing all five people on board.
The 1924 Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 crash occurred on 24 December 1924 when de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBX of Imperial Airways crashed at Purley, Surrey, United Kingdom killing all eight people on board. The aircraft was operating a scheduled international flight from Croydon, Surrey, to Paris, France. It was the first fatal accident suffered by Imperial Airways and led to the first public inquiry into a civil aviation accident in the United Kingdom. As a result of issues brought up during the inquiry, Croydon Airport was expanded, absorbing most of Beddington Aerodrome.