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By: 1st June 2019 at 21:28 Permalink
-Is it not explained by this incident?
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By: 1st June 2019 at 23:11 Permalink - Edited 1st June 2019 at 23:12
-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!
By: 1st June 2019 at 23:55 Permalink
-'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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 11:53 Permalink - Edited 2nd June 2019 at 11:55
-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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 12:17 Permalink
-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
By: 2nd June 2019 at 13:09 Permalink
-Well it's just a theory but it does seem strange that the 'January 1929' date is repeated so many times without explanation.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 13:38 Permalink - Edited 2nd June 2019 at 16:00
-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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 14:22 Permalink
-Ninety years later, I suspect that we'll never know for certain! But thank you for all your contributions.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 17:05 Permalink
-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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 17:18 Permalink - Edited 2nd June 2019 at 17:19
-The 'somersault' was at Little Waltham (actually 'Sheepcotes', which may be a house/farm rather than location). See also newspaper report above.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 18:25 Permalink
-It seems that Sheepcotes is a farm - I have a feeling I may know some of the family from my Young Farmers days!
https://little-waltham.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/a-w---g-w-day-ltd-13501651.html
Adrian
By: 2nd June 2019 at 18:28 Permalink
-Aha: this may be where some local knowledge would render a photo?
By: 2nd June 2019 at 18:28 Permalink - Edited 2nd June 2019 at 18:29
-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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 20:04 Permalink
-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.
By: 2nd June 2019 at 20:13 Permalink
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By: 2nd June 2019 at 20:24 Permalink
-Now that report makes it much clearer, thanks :)
Incidentally, there is some nice footage of the race on Youtube including the Plover taking off -
By: 10th June 2019 at 10:54 Permalink
-I just checked copies of The Aeroplane from Dec 1928 through to Feb 1929 and there is no mention of the Plover
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By: avion ancien - 1st June 2019 at 16:06
Does anyone know where and in what circumstances Plover G-EBON crashed in January 1929?