Spitfire Crash

[Ex-Ascot]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ngsby.html

[Boac]

Indications are it was a BBMF aircraft, and this image from 'X' does not bode well for the pilot. Fingers crossed.

GOcCpcdXUAAu-0Z.jpg (36.6 KiB) Viewed 1064 times

[G-CPTN]

One reason to postpone announcing would be to inform next of kin . . .

[G-CPTN]

Fatality confirmed.

[PHXPhlyer]

RIP pilot and Spit!

PP

[tango15]

I can't help wondering how much longer these old warbirds will be allowed to fly before a ban is put in place. Sadly, there seems to be at least one a year currently, and whilst I have no doubt that, especially in the case of the BBMF aircraft, they are meticulously maintained, sooner or later they are going to fail at a crucial moment. It saddens me greatly, especially having lost a friend and colleague, Kevin Moorhouse, in the Mosquito accident at Barton in July 1996.

[G-CPTN]

Isn't the Spitfire a 'basic' aircraft with relatively little to go wrong that would prejudice the flyability of the aircraft?

[Opsboi]

Desperately sad
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

BBMF fatal Spitfire crash today. Looks like somewhere at the end of the downwind leg for Rwy 25 at Coningsby. RIP.

[Karearea]

Sky News: RAF pilot killed in Spitfire crash in Lincolnshire is named as Mark Long

1:06 X video:

X: An official statement from Group Captain Robbie Lees, Commander Display Air Wing, following the RAF Coningsby accident.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

One report says the engine failed shortly after take off, presumably on a RWY 07 right hand turning climbout from the road closures.
Very little time to do much. It's mostly flat fields, but they are all pretty short, with a village, assorted trees, single houses and ponds between them.
The photo of the wreckage would seem to be in the yard of one of the odd houses, at the end of a field, but I have not identified which yet.
RWY 25 at Coningsby has longer fields and fewer obstructions, though it has a big one with the River Witham.
I flew co-pilot on the BBMF Devon a few times, and the Tiger Moth from Cranwell, so have spent some time assessing the options there.

[Archer]

I have seen that same message stating that it was an engine failure at 300' or thereabouts. He appears to have come down just to the right of the extended centreline of RW 07, along Langrick Rd.

The BBMF aircraft are meticulously maintained, I visited the hangar last year and all the aircraft, including MK356, were absolutely gleaming and looking like new. That is obviously no guarantee but now that this has happened, I expect that we will learn something new about running Merlin engines and the warbird business will be a bit safer because of it. Sadly, it cost Sqn Ldr Mark Long his life to learn this lesson.
I have a couple of photos from last year here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/102686263 ... 310645405/

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I was the Station Flight Safety Officer at Coningsby when we had to reopen the Inquiry on the Hurricane crash. The reason for the Merlin failing had not been discovered exactly by the first one.
It did indeed turn out to be something very obscure, and the answer eventually came with input from some 83 year old technician long into retirement.
IIRC One camshaft failed within a bearing, turning the engine from a V12 into a V7, with 5 cylinders intermittently not working on one side.
The engine went through very rapid development during WW2, and problems with old engines were undiscovered because they generally did not last that long, and because extensive Boards of Inquiry were not possible.
Flying old aircraft will always be risky because of this, but the meticulous care with which they are flown and maintained compensates.

The photo showing the wreckage appears to be here
https://www.google.com/maps/place/53%C2 ... ?entry=ttu
The field on the west side of the road is less than 500 ft wide, and I think the aircraft crossed the road before finally stopping between two houses.
I can't tell whether it touched down before the road, or just failed to make the fields to the east beyond the road.
I cannot see any better options than the one Mark chose.
If the engine had failed a couple of hundred feet higher, he'd probably have made it to the longer fields of Hutton's farm on the east side of the road.

[Karearea]

In remembrance of Squadron Leader Mark Long.

X, RAF Lossiemouth, 21sec.video

[G-CPTN]

BBMF 'grounded' until the results of the Spitfire crash is investigated, therefore no DDay flights.

[Ex-Ascot]

BBMF 'grounded' until the results of the Spitfire crash is investigated, therefore no DDay flights.

Saw that and wondered why they had grounded the whole flight. The Spits yes but not the rest.

[unifoxos]

Because they all use the same engine?

[Boac]

or fuel?

[Archer]

We won't get far speculating, but there could be a couple of reasons for keeping the BBMF airframes on the ground. The technical issue that caused the accident could be a systemic issue present in other airframes or engines, which would lead to the other similarly powered types staying on the ground. On the other hand, it could be something that originated in a maintenance, testing or operational procedure that is applicable to a larger part of the fleet or all of them. That's just the technical side of things. There is also the human side on which you want to make sure that everything is as safe as possible before you send someone (or a crew) out to fly one of the BBMF types. And on that same side, you want to give your organisation time to get to grips with what happened. Putting pressure on the organisation to go out and fly again may not be the best solution. Give them time. They lost a colleague and friend.