Piper PA-18A 150 Super Cub G-APVR at Sunk Island.
On Wednesday, 1st September 1965 the pilot of this aircraft being employed by Fisons Ltd. to spray crops in fields at Mr Godfrey's Channel Farm, Sunk Island. Having flown at a height of between forty and fifty feet the pilot began to put the aircraft into a climb when he suddenly lost elevator control. The aircraft lost height and was about to crash nose first when the pilot applied maximum rudder movement at the last moment which swung the aircraft so that the port wing struck the ground first. This absorbed the impact on the fuselage. At the same time as applying rudder he also released the cabin door on the starboard side so that he could then make a quick exit. He was strapped in and was not injured but the aircraft was badly damaged. An investigation found that a control cable within this aircraft broke and this had resulted in the elevator control being lost. It was thought that agricultural chemicals had entered the rear fuselage and had increased the rate of corrosion of the elevator control cable turn buckles and elevator bell-crank. The turn buckle had then failed in flight through corrosion fatigue. The aircraft was owned by Farm Air Ltd, of Thruxton.
Pilot - Mr Fred R Salmon.