This Firebrand was the first production variant of the variant to be built at the Blackburn aircraft factory at Brough. On 16th March 1945 it was being test-flown and being subjected to a series of dive tests to test a new elevator part. The dives took place over the airfield and began at 11,500 feet. During one of the dives the rear fuselage broke away at 4,000 feet from the rest of the aircraft. The pilot attempted to bale out but his parachute caught on the aircraft and he was killed in the resulting crash. Some parts of the aircraft fell onto the airfield but the vast majority landed in fields just east of the airfield. A detailed AIB investigation was carried out following this incident and is held in the UK National Archives at ref "AVIA5/22. Rep.No.W2113", this contains a map showing where everything fell but unfortunately nearly all that fell on farmland has now been dug away as part of clay pits, the crash location now forms part of Brough Fishery Complex.
Pilot - S/Ldr James Richard Tobin AFC RAFO (39909), aged 30. Buried Dalston Road Cemetery, Carlisle, Cumbria (18/A/14).
James Tobin was granted a commission in the RAF to the rank of Acting P/O on probation with effect of 5th July 1937. He was confirmed in the rank of P/O on probation and later was granted the rank of P/O with effect from 4th June 1938. He then rose to F/O on 4th January 1940 and to F/Lt exactly a year later. The units he served with during these years in the RAF are not yet known apart from he was serving with 163 Squadron around May 1940 which was operating in Norway around this date. His regular RAF service appears to have ended with posting to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in mid-1940 and under the terms of his commission he had to transfer to the RAF Reserve of Officers on 10th May 1941. His work at the RAE was recognised in the award the Air Force Cross, Gazetted on 11th June 1942. During his three years at the RAE he aerodynamics of aircraft, eventually becoming the Aerodynamics Flight commanding officer. Around the end of 1943 he was posted on loan to Blackburn Aircraft Ltd to be their test pilot. In an obituary in Flight Magazine it gave the tribute that he was "one of the very finest experimental test pilots in the country". After his death he received the King's Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air, Gazetted on 14th June 1945.
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