Parnall Plover G-EBON

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

Does anyone know where and in what circumstances Plover G-EBON crashed in January 1929?

Original post

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

Is it not explained by this incident?

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"Image2.jpg","data-attachmentid":3863984}[/ATTACH]

Attachments

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

In the 1926 King's Cup race, in July of that year, the Plover, piloted by Sqn. Ldr. Sir C. J. Quintin Brand, retired with petrol feed problems. But if one is to accept that its demise was in January 1929, it's hard to identify a connection between events 30 months apart!

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

'Demise' in 1929 seems to come from its registration document; in my experience those dates are not reliable as 'write off' dates. The oft-unreliable Wiki seems to have followed the same path. Incidentally the registration document says "?.1.29", so obviously that date was questionable. The newspaper mentions a 'somersault' on landing, which would easily write the aircraft off.

Supposition of course, but irrespective of that I very much doubt that the January 1929 date represents anything other than a best-guess made at the time of something along the lines of scrapping what had been left after the 1926 incident.

Anything in Flight/Aeroplane or evidence of this aircraft between 1926 and 1929? My guess would be no.

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

A.J.Jackson says 'crashed 1929' but I can't say whether that is extrapolation from AM form Wt 6327 although, as you say Sabrejet, this gives no more information than ?.1.29 in the column headed 'Destruction or Permanent Withdrawal from Use of Aircraft'. I've found nothing in Flight and, sadly, only pre-1923 issues of The Aeroplane are available online. Does Kenneth Wixey's Putnam monograph on Parnell shed any light on the subject? Unfortunately I don't have a copy.

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

Does Kenneth Wixey's Putnam monograph on Parnell shed any light on the subject?

Wixey gives the Jan 1929 crash date with no further details

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

Well it's just a theory but it does seem strange that the 'January 1929' date is repeated so many times without explanation.

Member for

16 years 3 months

Posts: 1,813

Have checked the entry for G-EBON in ABs The British Civil Aircraft Registers 1919 -1928 ( Published 1969):-
G-EBON PARNALL PLOVER N9705 (nil) C.of A. 07 July 1926 George Parnall & Co. Yate. Flown in the 1926
King's Cup Race (retired). Later crashed and marks cancelled in January 1929.

Make of that what you will.........!!! I read that as its retirement from the King's Cup and its final destruction are two separate incidents.

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

Ninety years later, I suspect that we'll never know for certain! But thank you for all your contributions.

Member for

11 years 3 months

Posts: 1,299

Re. the King's Cup race, Flight puts the reason for the Plover's retiral as -

Brand, it should be mentioned, had no sooner started and had just got outside the aerodrome, when the filler cap of the petrol tank blew off, and he had to make a hurried, but beautifully executed, return to the 'drome. Things were soon put right, however, and he got away again, but a little later on it was announced that he had landed at Little Waltham (Chelmsford) and had retired from the race.

I wonder if the "somersault" mentioned in the newspaper report refers more to the first landing back at the aerodrome and was a manoeuvre in the air rather than a turning over on the ground.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

The 'somersault' was at Little Waltham (actually 'Sheepcotes', which may be a house/farm rather than location). See also newspaper report above.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

Aha: this may be where some local knowledge would render a photo?

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

Whilst I'm inclined to agree with you to a point, Ex Brat, as there is much lazy journalism these days, as I see it the problem is that, ninety years on, when there does not appear now to be a primary source to which to refer, inevitably reference will be made to secondary sources. The pity is that whoever first referred to the Plover's demise in January 1929 (Jackson, Wixey, another?) did us all no favours by failing to say from where he/she got that date and whether greater detail was available from the same source concerning the circumstances of the alleged crash.

Member for

11 years 3 months

Posts: 1,299

The 'somersault' was at Little Waltham (actually 'Sheepcotes', which may be a house/farm rather than location). See also newspaper report above.

Hi Sabrejet,

I had read the newspaper report and, assuming that "grounded" means landed, was simply wondering whether it was slightly confused. To me it reads like the "somersault" came before landing rather than during it.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"Image1.jpg","data-attachmentid":3864092}[/ATTACH]

Attachments

Member for

11 years 3 months

Posts: 1,299

Now that report makes it much clearer, thanks :)

Incidentally, there is some nice footage of the race on Youtube including the Plover taking off -

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

I just checked copies of The Aeroplane from Dec 1928 through to Feb 1929 and there is no mention of the Plover