The Tragic Farnborough Airshow Crash 1952 | A Plainly Difficult Documentary

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#Science #history #airshow #disaster

It is Saturday the 6th of September 1952 and test pilot John Douglas Derry DFC prepares his prototype de Havilland DH.110 jet fighter to show off over the skies of the Farnborough airshow, Hampshire UK, for a waiting and excited crowd.

The 2 seater prototype, roars over the baying crowd, it flies past the 120,000 large audience, in a dramatic display of precision piloting skills the plane pulls up.

The aircraft disintegrates under the extreme forces of the display showering bystanders with debris and one of the two engines plows into the crowd killing 28 as well as both crew aboard the plane.