Buccaneer S.1(P) XK486 near Riplingham.

Buccaneer XK486 was a development aircraft built by the Blackburn Aircraft Ltd, it was the first prototype "NA.39" and it first flew on 30th April 1958. The development of the Buccaaneer continued over the next years and at 11.49hrs on 5th October 1960 XK486 took off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield with the crew detailed to fly one of these development flight tests. The plan for the flight was firstly to do some tests while in a shallow dive from 20,000 feet and then to carry out some low level auto-pilot tests. The first part of the flight was successfully carried out with the aircraft climbing through cloud between 1,300 feet and 11,000 feet and continued above the cloud up to 22,500 feet in roughly a straight line away from Holme on Spalding Moor to the west. The pilot then turned the aircraft around and flew a dive down to 12,000 feet in the opposite direction. The pilot then took the aircraft down through the cloud to 1,000 feet and attempted to fly the low level part of the exercise on two occasions and in different courses but the weather conditions were poor. The aircraft then ran into rain and the aircraft was not fitted with a windscreen wiper. The poor weather saw the pilot stop the low level part of the flight and he opted to switch to carry out a flying test that was not carried out on a previous test flight. He had intended on climbing back to 20,000 feet to start these next tests and during the climb through cloud he put the aircraft into a turn to port. While in this turn the aircraft made two rolls to the right after which the pilot believed that he had lost control. At 12.15hrs he jettisoned the canopy (instead of ejecting through it) and ordered the observer to eject. The pilot injured his left hand when it slipped as the seat fired and it struck the aircraft but he was ejected clear. He also dislocated his right shoulder. The observer, who was seated in the rear seat where his duties involved writing test flight data, was not aware of any issue with the aircraft prior to the canopy being jettisoned and witnessing his pilot eject. The wind speed at 400 knots passing through the open cockpit then made it difficult for the observer to then reach up to pull his ejection hood down. He attempted to raise his arms to the blind that needed to be pulled over his face to fire the seat but the wind speed pinned his right arm behind the seat. Having this arm pinned up behind his seat and wind buffeting him, he could not reach the lower alternative lower ejection handle with his other hand. He had to wait for around thirty seconds after the pilot left until the aircraft had slowed down before he managed to reach this handle with his left hand and then ejected. He also believed that his seat struck the tail while being ejected. The pilot suffered the more serious injuries and while he landed close to Common Farm, Thorpe le Street the dislocated shoulder made it difficult for him to control his descent or release his parachute. The observer landed at the edge of Londesborough Park, three miles from the pilot.

The aircraft then continued for around five minutes but it must have flown anything but in a straight line because the locations of where the two men landed can be plotted and a direction of flight at that time assertained as being roughly flying in a north easterly direction. The accident records are missing a map the route the empty aircraft then took but that struck the ground flying in a north-westerly direction but some nine miles south west of where the observer landed. I presume it took a very wide loop of the Market Weighton and southern Yorkshire Wolds area in a gradual clockwise turn, which could have been anywhere to up 25 miles in distance, to where it then crashed. It must have passed close to the village of Riplingham before it first struck the ground near Low Hunsley Farm with the port wing and the belly of the fuselage. It then bounced, went through some trees around the farm and next struck the ground with the starboard wing. Both these impacts saw various sections of the nose and tail broke off. The bulk of the aircraft then flew into a wood, broke up and sections caught fire.

A detailed examination of the wreckage took place and no evidence was found of a technical failure although there was no reason to dispute the pilot's statement that the flight attitude indicator was giving a indication of a roll. It was also thought possible that the pilot had purely become disorientated in cloud and believed that he had lost control. Changes were made to the design of the Buccaneer to install a screen between the two cockpit seats to reduce the buffeting conditions should this ever occur again.

Pilot - Mr Gartrell Richard Ian Parker DFC AFC DSM. Injured.

Flight Test Observer - Mr E J D "David" Nightingale. Injured.