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1952 Farnborough Air
Show
At least 27 people were
killed and 63 injured after a jet fighter disintegrated and fell
into the crowd
The de Havilland 110 fighter had just broken the sound barrier
when it broke up over the spectators, showering them with debris.
Among the dead were the pilot, John Derry and the flight test
observer Anthony Richards.
The two airmen had completed one fly-past in which they amazed
130,000 spectators by breaking the sound barrier to produce a
sonic boom.
But during the second low-level fly-past when the plane was
travelling at about 500 miles an hour (804kph) over the
aerodrome, its nose lifted and the whole plane disintegrated.
The two engines broke lose and one plunged into a dense crowd
watching on a hillside. The other engine fell on open ground but
other membrs of the public were injured by parts of the cockpit.
Fire engines and ambulances arrived within minutes and after a
short break the air display continued.
The disaster prompted the introduction of stringent safety
measures to protect spectators at air shows and no member of the
public has been killed since at a British air show.
