The Tragic Farnborough Airshow Crash 1952 | A Plainly Difficult Documentary

Learn while you're at home with Plainly Difficult!
#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.
The air crash investigation would discover a simple but tragic issue with the crashed plane.
00:00 Introduction
01:39 Background
04:39 Farnborough Airshow
06:22 The Disaster
09:30 Investigation
11:39 Aftermath
12:39 Ratings
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If you've read down this far well done!
Footage Licensed from British Pathé.
Sources:
web.archive.org/web/200802200...
web.archive.org/web/201802111...
theavgeeks.com/2021/02/21/wit...
www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag...
theguardian.newspapers.com/cl...
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[@krissteel4074]

Its a real horror, the only comparable one from the 50's that I can recall off the top of my head is the 1955 Le Mans crash which ended up in the crowd. Its just bloody nightmare material

[@ravismcromarty5600]

Or the Shoreham crash in 2015. (Edit) My bad. Misread the "only comparable one from the 50's" part of your post. 🥴

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Both very good suggestions thank you!

[@grmpEqweer]

@@PlainlyDifficult I'm surprised you haven't done that Le Mans crash. WELL... ... Don't forget Bangquiao dam collapse. It's a 10.

[@JG54206]

I literally thought the same thing. The engine, front axle and steering gear, and the hood all separately landed in the crowd and each one killed many spectators. The hood was pretty much a frisbee of death.

[@JAF30]

Glad to see I was not the only one thinking this direction.

[@q3st1on19]

One of the most terrifying flight accidents in my opinion. I can imagine the feeling of the plane you are in just suddenly disintegrating. Another great video plainly 👍

[@ReverendTed]

Are you familiar with Bill Weaver and his SR-71? If not, that's a harrowing story.

[@grmpEqweer]

@@ReverendTed I'll look that up. Tangentially... I heard the early SR-71s leaked fuel until they got up to speed, the plates had to expand, basically, due to the heat of friction. So, it was slap the fuel in and haul a$$, literally. Eventually this was corrected. Unfortunately, I understand the fuelers wound up with a lot of health problems. 😟

[@LetsTalkAboutPrepping]

You wouldn't feel much for very long at all.. they experienced 30gs of rotational force that would've rendered them unconscious while almost simultaneously killing them... Scary to imagine but a mercifully fast way to go

[@deeacosta2734]

So so sad. 😞

[@barrybetzjr1573]

Reno air race was the most chilling

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

An awful tragedy. I can't imagine how quickly things changed from excitement and spectacle to chaos and horror. It seems like the engine couldn't have come down at a worse place. Such a sad ending to a wonderful event.

[@grahamariss2111]

It was though a different age, a population hardened by the tragedies of the war. Neville Duke was to follow them in the Hawker Hunter and saw the accident from his cockpit as he prepared to taxi out, he was a close friend with both of the crew. The flying was delayed and then restarted and as he climbed out to start his display the control tower said "Take it easy over the crowd". As planned despite concern that the accident might be linked to the stresses of Supersonic flight, he climbed to 35,000 feat, rolled the hunter on it back and entered a vertical full power dive to deliver a sonic boom and supersonic pass over the Farnborough. The Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to send him a letter offering sympathy for the loss of his friends and admiration for him not letting their tragic loss stop him getting on with his job as a test pilot.

[@vertyisprobablydead]

It still remained a spectical though. Only a more notable one.

[@grahamariss2111]

@Taipan Tails My father was there on the bank with a many other from AWA in Coventry, the company having arranged coaches to take them on a works visit, the engines flew over his head and landed behind him, one in the crowd, some of the people injured and killed came from AWA and he told me about the silence on the coach on the way back to Coventry and the empty seats of tge dead and injured on the coach. Even though he had lived in Coventry in the Blitz as a child, nothing in life traumatised him so much.

[@ewoybz]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n52Yl5mja9hmd8U

[@pikachu6031]

There were two of them. The other flew over the crowd and landed in a field. It didn’t cause any injuries!

[@pattonpending7390]

It's great that you mentioned the DeHavilland Vampire. In the early 1990s, I was a mechanic on a WWII Era B-25 Mitchell bomber on the airshow circuit in the east coast of the US, and ran across a Vampire at a show in Massachesetts. The thing that impressed me about this plane was the sound of its engines as I helped marshal it onto the runway. Picture putting your ear against a blaring smoke detector that is making one loud ringing sound instead of beeping. Now picture that noise from 30' - 50' away and way LOUDER. It was excruciatingly and so high pitched that it probably deafened every animal within half a mile. I was wearing ear protection and it still hurt. That's an old school turbojet for you, I guess.

[@MuscleEire]

Woah that's crazy, so interesting, thanks for sharing your experience!

[@peterstickney7608]

I know that particualr plane, and worked on it a bit - It was a pleasure to work on - no power controls, no high pressure hydraulics - If you could afford to maintain, say, a light twin like a Baron, you could keep it flying safely. It handled great in the air - a Jet Spitfire.

[@Broaclese]

So well written, my ears are ringing.

[@antonhoward7968]

I was involved in Historic car racing for a while and there was on old boy, Tom Threlful who was an instructor on Vampires when they first appeared.

[@johnpekkala6941]

The local airport where I live in Västerås/Sweden has a flight museeum housing one of these Vampires in fully working condition. Its characteristic engine sound is a thing i have been growing up with since I was a kid as it has always done regular flights over the area esp during the summer months and now also the factory where I work is next to the airport so In the summer when we take our coffee breaks outside at the back of the factory we often get to see and hear the Vampire doing its beautiful show flights right above our heads as we sip our coffee and enjoy the summer! Also our factory manufactures golf course equipment = even more summer! The engines are indeed quite shrill with a high pitched turbine whine when idling (It actually sounds vampire like I would say, Like a bat screach. I wonder sometimes if they actually named the plane for the sound of its engines) As the engine revs up this high pitched whine is replaced with a more dampened engine roar at just perfect level, not deafening but just enough. The turbine whine is still heard but just barley while in flight and then comes back with its characteristic siren like sound again once it spools down again to idle. Instantly recognizeable. If you have heard it once u can then immediatley tell its a Vampire just based on the engine sound. kzbin.info/www/bejne/momZkqBto9uEndE kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZy4o2uHdrd7qLM. These are 2 different runs of a Vampire engine.

[@171apples171]

Hey John, hope youre doing well. Im just some guy in Iowa, USA but you sounded maybe tired and/or kinda bummed out in some parts of your narration. Im not complaining by any means, just want to wish you well. I watch every video man, im sure alot of other people do to. Thank you

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for your concern, I was recording at 2am in the morning and was a bit to conscious about waking everyone in my house up!

[@SquishyZoran]

I was wondering the same thing too.

[@jenniferfagundes3236]

❤️

[@devent10n]

@@PlainlyDifficult that'll definitely do it! Glad it's nothing bad :3

[@GaaaageE]

Hello fellow iowegian

[@erictaylor5462]

I guy I went to school with, Mark, he was a year ahead of me, joined the Air Force after graduating high school. He was assigned his first duty post in West Germany (this was 1988) and was part of a crew moving an aircraft from one base to another when the decided to stop and Ramstein to watch the air show. On that day the Italian Demo team was performing a stunt that involved a solo plane crossing the rest of the team at a right angle. In this day though the crossing plane struck 2 of his team mates. All three planes turned into giant fireballs and fell out of the sky. The crossing pilot was headed straight towards the crowd. Though the plane fell short of the crowd on impact with the ground the fuel tanks burst and a huge tsunami of burning jet fuel washed over the crowd. This happened very close to where Mark was standing. At first he thought he had escaped the fireball. At once he started rescuing people and got 7 or 8 people to safety before suddenly feeling faint and sitting down. He passed out and woke in the hospital with terrible burns. Turns out he had been on fire the entire time and hadn't notice. Mark was a big guy, over 6' and heavy. Not fat, strong. He must have been quite a sight to the rescued, seeing this burning, giant man coming to save you.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

Holy shit. I would love to find any of the people he rescued, or who watched him do so, to hear their memories...

[@erictaylor5462]

@@AnimeSunglasses Me too.

[@125brat]

That was the Frecce Tricolore Italian Display team that crashed at Ramstein. They were at RAF (TTTE) Cottesmore a couple of weeks earlier and I watched them practicing their routine for the forthcoming families day. I thought they were nutters when I watched them as they were clearly doing manoeuvres that left very little margin for error and were quite ragged in their flying. One particular manoeuvre involved a solo aircraft flying slowly at a couple of hundred feet above the runway whilst the pilot stirred the control column as quick as he could into all 4 corners of the movement just like you do to check for full and free movement of the controls before take-off. Needless to say, the effect on the aircraft was crazy and I'd never seen anything like it before nor since. I was shocked when I saw the crash at Ramstein on the TV news, but not overly surprised given their cavalier manner of flying. I worked on the line at TTTE Cottesmore where the British, German and Italian aircrews were trained to fly the Tornado GR1 and the standing joke was that you could tell when Italians had been flying a jet because the rear-view mirrors were turned inwards so they could look at themselves😁

[@erictaylor5462]

@@125brat That sounds like Italians. My aunt was in her early 20's when she spent some time in Italy. She was an extremely attractive young woman (or so I was told. She was my aunt after all.) and a guy on a moped tried to slap her but as he rode by at fairly high speed. She was on a bicycle and the impact knocked her down and left a huge bruise on her ass, and also leaving her extremely pissed off (this would have been in the early 70's). I guess you could say she had hot, cross, buns. The guy who smacked her came off the worst for it. The impact shattered his arm. On top of that, he was arrested for assault. My aunt even had to go to court and he got a fairly long prison sentence. My aunt was not at all sympathetic, and my aunt is an extremely sympathetic person. She worked as a school councilor in Eugene, Or.

[@virginiaviola5097]

@@125brat the Italians are straight up bonkers when it comes to their flying skills, but those skills translate to their commercial careers down the track. I’ve only recently revisited the Ramstein incident, and got to thinking, it should come as no surprise that they have mad flying skills and even madder planes, because look at the cars they made. Fast, dangerous, flashy and brilliantly engineered. That’s the Italian way. The mistiming of that fly through was a tragedy, the flying up to that point was spectacular. The aftermath just horrifying. Cannot imagine being there, the footage is hard to wrap your head around. Your friend was lucky to survive.

[@calvinwright1816]

It's unbelievable somebody happened to be recording, cameras were rare and expensive, And really hard to focus quickly, So it's a miracle to have footage

[@cr10001]

One of the most significant flying displays at the aviation event of the year - it would be odd if there wasn't a newsreel/TV camera there.

[@KB4QAA]

CW: No. Cameras were not rare or expensive in 1952.

[@gaillaffer7579]

My Grandad was there with the Red Cross and always said he felt guilty for sending people to the hill to get the best views prior to the accident but never spoke about what he saw in the aftermath. I lived in North Farnbourgh and would often see Concord on its test flights from my school or home and have a great picture my dad took of it directly over our chimney with me looking up at it. (Thanks Dad)

[@GabrielBadwolf]

My Dad’s Uncle James and his son Richard where two of those people. They got hit by debris and died. I don’t blame him, for not talking it was from what I heard in stories handed down quite horrifying. For what it’s worth I also don’t blame him for potentially sending them up that hill. It’s not like he knew what was gonna happen.

[@gaillaffer7579]

@@GabrielBadwolf Thank you. I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine the pain you and your family suffer.

[@grahamariss2111]

Good video but a few small errors 1. DH110 and subsequent Sea Vixen was only Supersonic in a dive and the Sea Vixen was cleared for Supersonic dive in service. A Supersonic thin winged version was proposed with an "Area Ruled" fuselage but was never funded for development although the Sea Vixen mk2 did get the extend wing boom fuel tanks of the design. 2. It was the Vickers Valiant that came in 51 and that year the Avro Vulcan appeared only in flying display as it was too secret to be seen on the ground along with it was also the Hawker Hunter, Supermarine Swift and Gloster Javelin, the excitement being that the DH110, and Hunter doing Supersonic dives (somebody had tried to go Supersonic in a Javelin but they found the tail came off and you made a big hole in the ground so they did not try again and the Swift had transonic handling difficulties that they never resolved). 3. In truth the Venom was the follow on to the Vampire, although it could be argued that was a continuation of the Vampire so I will give that. Incidentally my father who worked for AWA was at the show as part of an employee trip, the engines flew over his head and landed into the crowd behind him killing and injuring some of the people from AWA. He said it was a quiet dark trip back to Coventry on the coach which had been full and now had a good number of empty seats!

[@RCAvhstape]

For air show disasters, the 1988 Ramstein accident deserves a video. And of course, for more aerospace ideas you've got Apollo 1, Apollo 13, Challenger, and Columbia, as well as a few Soviet accidents to cover if you are interested. Challenger in particular and NASA fatal accidents in general have lots of documentation to draw from.

[@thijsd]

+1 for the Ramstein disaster

[@exerminator2000]

Also the reno crash... God that was awful...

[@Jonas.N]

Was looking for this comment, really needs a video

[@superj8502]

Sojuz 10?

[@emmeriankiwi6993]

I also think the Skyniv airshow disaster, that one is a sad one, not only caught on multiple cameras including those who probably died but most of the deaths were children

[@95mudshovel]

I never thought I would become addicted to learning about horrific accidents but here we are.

[@alisoncleeton877]

I also went to Farnborough as l lived nearby in my youth! Saw Concorde take off from there during one of the Airshows.Omg! The jet displays were fab, but when Concorde blazed down the runway every single car alarm went off in the carpark!!! Fabulous!!

[@neuralmute]

Wow - that would have been incredible to witness!

[@Sniperboy5551]

I love it when you post a new video! It would be really cool to get a new one about a nuclear/radiation accident, but I’m sure you’ve nearly run out of documented nuclear incidents.

[@q3st1on19]

The Russians are busy fixing that issue

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Indeed they are

[@lemo4739]

@@PlainlyDifficult don’t worry I’ll give you a new one to make a video about. Just give me a couple weeks

[@CigarRegal]

I'm sure he has enough material by now to start making some up.

[@burtony3]

There are more than you probably realize...

[@DKTAz00]

Great work, as always. Immediately the 1955 Le Mans disaster springs to mind.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Same!

[@mml100pink]

I was going to say exactly the same, especially the bit about the engine entering the crowd of spectators.

[@billythekid3234]

@@mml100pink AND ALSO THE FIRE,,,,,,, HOW TERRIBLE,

[@Phoenix-ej2sh]

I like the changes - waiting until the end of the video for the disaster scale, and the slower speaking pace - very nice work!

[@anitaevans5361]

Skill & talent, he’s got it🤩

[@AcornElectron]

Whilst I don’t like change I do think putting the PD disaster rating at the end is a win. Maybe just say, we’ll look at the PDDR at the end without saying ‘watch until the end for x’ Apart from that, well produced, succinct and informative as always! Keep up the good work fella and stay safe!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@Veritas419]

Who decided that using wood in a super sonic aircraft wing was a good idea? Seriously, that’s baffling.

[@Mr_Meowingtons]

yeah for real...

[@Dat-Mudkip]

It was during a time when aerodynamics were still being learned, and we were only just figuring out how to break the sound barrier. It's easy to make that statement in hindsight, and the pilots certainly should have been told about the difference in material, but it was really just an unfortunate accident.

[@cr10001]

Yep, they said the same thing about wood in high-speed aircraft in 1940, then DH produced the Mosquito...

[@slome815]

The Vampire, while not supersonic, has a lot of wood in it's construction as well. And that was a very succesfull jet fighter. De havilland was famous for the use of plywood in (at the time) modern aircraft.

[@ohthehorror6402]

Thanks, John. I really enjoy your videos. You explain thing so well.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!!

[@TheNuckinFoob]

I found your channel a little over a week ago and can't believe it took me that long to find you. 95% of what I watch on KZbin is weird, interesting, factual stories; pretty much exactly what you do. Their algorithm is awful for taking so long to recommend one of your videos. I have been happily enjoying mini binging moments since the first one I watched. You make absolutely fantastic videos and I look forward to watching them for as long as you continue to make them. Thank you, good sir. I can't say enough about enjoyable your videos are to watch. I have legitimately been telling people I know to look you up and watch a video or two. So far I've gotten 3 other people hooked onto Plainly Difficult. It's that good! 👍

[@kimhohlmayer7018]

John, I have never heard of this until now. Thank you for another fascinating piece of tragic history.

[@richardborkent5185]

please consider doing a video on the Enschede fireworks disaster of 2000

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion

[@saragrant9749]

I hadn’t heard of this tragedy until the 2011 Reno air show disaster. An article I read about it spoke at length about this and gave great light to how dangerous it can sometimes be at air shows. No matter how much safety is put in place, you cannot account for every possible situation.

[@zekenava6444]

Just imagine what the pilot was thinking as his plane turned into a shower of metal in his hands. So terrifying.

[@sebby324]

He died very quickly

[@devent10n]

@@sebby324 small favors, I suppose

[@davidwood2205]

The force of 30 G's as the aircraft pitched up was instant. They were unconscious or already gone when the crew cabin struck the ground.

[@jeromewagschal9485]

@@davidwood2205 30 G's ??? Oh my God...He was probably already unconscious...

[@bobswan6196]

@@davidwood2205 Absolutely. Jimmy Leeward was subjected to @ 17g in P51 Galloping Ghost at Reno in 2011. The inquest decided that he would have been completely unconscious by the time he hit the ground., so 30g - no chance!

[@12westend]

Sadly the Sea Vixens also had problems a number were lost in service of the Royal Navy including one flying from HMS Hermes carring a relative of mine in the late 60s

[@cbartley100]

I was an apprentice (electronics) at RAE Farnborough from 1969. The major part of the course was given in one half of 'E' hanger behind the main exhibition hill - The hanger had a large patched area in the roof which we were told was the result of the 52 crash Since you mentioned Comet : Just outside E hanger were the old green test tanks in which they did the comet 4 pressure testing All gone now sadly

[@FlywithMagnar]

A very good presentation. One of the accident investigators wrote a very insightful book about his career, including this accident. Your video is spot on.

[@DanA-zx8jc]

Could you say who author or book name is please as would like to look at , cheers

[@davidb8539]

Love your videos mate! I think I've gone through the entire radiological back catalogue! Keep em coming!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@simmybear31]

Interesting but a couple of minor points 1) the V-Bomber in flight was a Vickers Valiant 2) the Vulcan was an AVRO manufactured plane. The 3 V-Bombers taken into RAF service were the aforementioned Vickers Valiant, the Avro Vulcan and the Handley Page Victor.

[@christinescarff4920]

My parents were there as my dad was a civil engineer working for the ‘ Ministry of Aircraft Production ‘ at the time, and it was some sort of ‘ office outing ‘ Some of the wreckage came down , ricocheting just near them and my dad apparantly yelled at my mum ‘ Quick, run like hell ‘ and at the time she was 6 months pregnant with me . They NEVER ever went to another air in their entire lives after that !

[@brianmuhlingBUM]

Loved it! Beautifully spoken, I could understand every word and no loud annoying music.

[@WarrenSapir]

Right On! It makes my day when I see new content on Plainly Difficult. I’m fascinated by engineering/technological disasters! Keep up the excellent work! 🔥🤘

[@jgrant1162]

Hi John, only recently found your channel. A really excellent set of videos. I had heard of this accident before, but didn't know all the details, and certainly not the fact it was a replacement aircraft that Derry used. A common theme to most accidents, is change, something being different at the time of the accident, different workers, tools, equipment, procedure etc. Keep the videos coming, I look forward to them.

[@copperlocke]

I love when you do these aircraft videos, as I'm also in the industry. Farnborough is still The Big Airshow even for the US, and we spend weeks preparing for it every year. We usually show clips of 'our' aircraft flying during the airshow at work, which end up in promo materials later on. I recall though we were shown the clip of the Lockheed LM-100J flying at Farnborough recently (2019 I think?) with the caption "Fly it like you stole it" on there. If you haven't seen it, it's some fancy flying for a civilian aircraft, even one modeled off a military one.

[@FatBlockOfHash]

I'm only 10 mins away from Farnborough, I hadn't realised that it was big even in the US, thats interesting. Grew up going to Farnborough airshow, will always hold a place in my heart and mind for sure, happy memories

[@ReneSchickbauer]

Is it just me, or does this PD video sound much more relaxed and less hyped than older videos? I like it.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I recorded the script at 2 in the morning and didn't want to wake anyone up!

[@ghorn3136]

As a former, now retired, professional pilot in the U.S. operating my first jet…a D.H. 125… I’ve always admired the deHavilland designs which resulted in such fine, predictable handling characteristics and the wonderful and skillful assembly workers at Hatfield gave such confidence. I became so affectionate of the design that I spent a large part of my career on that and following designs, eventually flying every variant of the 125 I possibly could. From Bristol-Siddeley Vipers thru the 731-Fans and the PWs of the BAe-1000… it was the basic airframe design that I most appreciated. After a brief service with the BAE demonstration team, I ended my career as an Instructor Pilot and Simulator Instructor on them, finally as a Pilot Examiner on the Hawkers, all makes/models. My favorite memory was my final flight in one being delivered to it’s final resting place, a HS-126-600A with 601 RR-Vipers… a magnificent and graceful Lady. Thank you!

[@ghorn3136]

Oops…pardon the Typographical error…it was a HS-125-600A.

[@timmotion6494]

So sad. I was in the crowd shown at 8 minutes in the film. I saw the engine fly into the crowd about thirty yards to my left. My mother was very pleased to see me later!

[@georgemorley1029]

I bet she was! Cripes.

[@whoever6458]

Sweet! My dad used to work in aerospace too and we got runway side seats for the air show. I loved it!

[@JackoNorm]

Uploaded almost bang on midnight for my birthday, thanks Plainly :)

[@tinaboy99]

I was 5 years old and it was my first Farnborough air show, first of many. I was with my father just in front of the hill where one of the engines ended up. I still remember it clearly, the engines flying over. my grandmother worked in the work's restaurant at Farnborough. My love of aircraft started before then as i lived near Heathrow and many days the aircraft flew overhead for landing.

[@Decodeish1]

Great new format for your video!

[@TisRyno]

I live in Farnborough and have never heard of this disaster, for my whole life I've watched the Farnborough Airshow from nearby hills/parks and I am absolutely shocked that I've never heard of this! Also for anyone visiting the area, go visit the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum, modern aviation was born in Farnborough and the museum is one of a kind! My dad even donated a lot of books from his time as an aeronautical engineer to them, worth the visit and helps upkeep the history of our town.

[@rayburrow3986]

I was there when the dh110 broke up, directly under the flightpath of the two engines. The aeroplane had already broken the sound barrier in a dive, producing two puffs of cloudlike vapour high in the sky as it did so, and we watched as it levelled out and flew along the crowd line at high speed. It turned to port until it was flying towards us, and suddenly there appeared a shower of glinting particles of metal as it broke up. You could see through the wings, where metal covering had been torn away. The main airframe and wings dropped like a stone on the far side of the aerodrome, but the two engines carried on towards us, almost side by side, rotating slowly and with smoke trailing behind them. They impacted the crowd standing on the hill behind me. Simultaneously the cockpit hit the ground directly in front of the Ten Shilling enclosure, and the wreckage caused casualties there too. Ambulances drove through the crowd control barriers and raced across the aerodrome to the main wreckage area, but of course there were no crew members in that part of the aeroplane. When the runway had been cleared, and while rescue efforts were still under way, Neville Duke took up the bright red Hunter, one of the rivals of the dh110, and broke the sound barrier as if nothing had happened. In fact there was no panic, and the calm voice of the commentator over the loudspeaker system, the Tannoy, helped in that. It was a very subdued train journey back home.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Thank you. If you you don’t mind, may I ask your age?

[@thetangieman3426]

John, thank you for another great video. Keep up the good work sir.

[@The8BitBrit]

6:06 slight mistake, the Vulcan was manufactured by Avro (later Hawker-Siddeley) not Vickers

[@PlainlyDifficult]

My bad thanks for the correction

[@zrspangle]

@@PlainlyDifficult Vickers made the Valiant

[@mikemac803]

I think it was referring to the Valiant as that is one of the V-Bombers but with a swept wing. The Vulcan famously has a delta wing.

[@rustlemyjimmys]

My balcony overlooks the runway at Farnborough. Such a shame the airshow has gone now 🙁 great video as always 🤙🏼

[@HainjeDAF]

Another superb report. Love your videos

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@harlequinn2526]

Love the new intro dude!! It adds a really nice personal touch to the video

[@sgallaghermail]

It's been a little while since I've checked in on one of your videos. Your tone seems less up-beat and more somber.

[@Lokitty719]

I think you pick some of the most interesting things to discuss. So, go for it for the plane development!

[@rcranch3838]

Awesome video. I love watching your content as it is always well detailed. Also you have amazing airplane drawing skills 4:29

[@huyphan7825]

"...Goes down in history as one of Britain's worst airshows." That's putting it lightly!

[@BrynnofStone]

Wow, I’d never heard of this! Great video, I really liked it

[@quietbatperson3115]

Another great video. Greetings from East London

[@sheraleegould2578]

Wonderful narration John, thank you New Zealand

[@georgegonzalez2476]

There is some other film of the breakup that awfully clearly shows the breakup and the two engines barreling on ahead into the crowd and slope. Really awful. Wish I could find it again.

[@Shrek_Has_Covid19]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmceId8n6p7Y8U

[@deprofundis3293]

@@Shrek_Has_Covid19 thank you for the extra footage! Much appreciated. Not sure why he didn't include it here. It isn't graphic or anything like that.

[@Jonas.N]

@@deprofundis3293 do you still have it?

[@deprofundis3293]

@@Jonas.N the person above me in this thread pasted a link to it. You can just click on that. :)

[@Handles-Are-A-Stupid-Idea]

@@deprofundis3293 there is nobody there

[@Blizzardmane]

More of these dives into military plane developments please!! I was MHV do a video on the sea vixen recently. Great timing on this one 😂

[@salis-salis]

Fantastic video, was expecting a bit of a dud as this is so well covered, but this was *excellent*

[@hughie522]

Good video. I hope you'll cover the Shoreham crash in the future video, and I'd love to see a video on the TSR-2!

[@k0b3r]

Thank You for Your videos!

[@mikeclifton7778]

Excellent video as always John. It's spooky you should be telling this tale today with the Navy opting for the Sea Venom instead of this design as an industrial park near us has a Venom on a curved steel gantry on display at the site entrance, this came crashing down during Storm Eunice 3 weeks ago here in Oxfordshire, UK! Fortunately no people were injured in this event unlike 1952.

[@grahamariss2111]

In truth they went for the "Super" Sea Venom, which was a comprehensive upgrade of the Sea Venom rather than the all new DH110 (Sea Vixen). However they later decided against that path and reverted to the DH110, but it pushed the Sea Vixen back half a generation and so it arrived into service a subsonic aircraft at a time when people were looking at getting into Mach 2. Although it did get for its day a state of the art licensed built US radar set (widening the fuselage for the larger scanner was another cause of delay), which meant it was quite a lot more handy than its modest performance suggested and as Lighting and Phantom pilots were to testify.

[@losingmyfavoritegame8752]

Thank you for posting another interesting documentary.

[@henriknilsson7851]

Great episode! Always quality work! Sea Vixen… classic name!

[@alanmurray4201]

Our family had an outing from Woking to Farnborough that day and we were standing in the crowd where the engine landed. My father had enormous presence of mind and pushed us all forward so that the engine landed behind us. Although I was only 3 and a half years old, I do have a recollection of a curved piece of glass on a concrete runway. Possibly the canopy? My mother, who was a WAAF in WW2, and thus familiar with flight deaths, never went near an aircraft again, clearly terrified by what she had seen

[@Tcb0835]

My Dad was at the '52 airshow. He said he remembered watching through binoculars and following the engines as they flew towards the crowd. Terrifying.

[@Bakamoichigei]

Great content, as always! 👍

[@wordreet]

My mum, dad and 1 year old sister were there. The fated aircraft flew over them before disintegrating. Both my parents were medically trained, but mum remained with the baby while my dad went to help. I was born in '53 and my bro in '56, and dad talked about this event just the once, about 10 years after bro was born. He obviously said it was horrible, and said there were bits of people all over the ground! He was never involved in any wartime situations, but he said that after witnessing this terrible scene he knew how things must have been for others back in those days. I'm sure this horrible disaster affected him as he was always a kind man, and went on to be part of a family GP practice until he retired many decades later.

[@TheDoppelgangster]

Nice video - well explained. Years ago in a book about disasters I recall seeing a photograph taken by a spectator which actually shows the body of one of the crew in mid-air amongst the wreckage as it broke up. I've never been able to find it on the net.

[@treylooker6567]

Love your videos keep it up!

[@jennifersoukup]

Thanks for your awesome content. 😊

[@CatWoodman]

Another lovely informative yet interesting video ❤️

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@localhost4460]

"My dad use to work for BAE..." All of this makes sense.

[@ElTurbinado]

I really miss your radiation accident videos. I especially liked them because most of them weren't documented anywhere else. I hope you find some cool unique stuff to document again! :D

[@bakedbeings]

Oo I don't know about the new, slowed down delivery - your usual pace is right up my alley. I kept losing my train of thought and had to speed up the playback to 1.25x

[@hglasier]

My dad was 11 or 12 when he was there and remembers the commentators saying "everything that can be done is being done". I forget the chaps name but I think he went on to be in the BBC series, Tomorrow's World.

[@fourutubez7294]

Raymond Baxter ? He was a Tomorrow's World presenter and I remember him being the 'voice of Farnborough ' when I was kid in the 70's

[@Tevildo]

The answer isn't clear, unfortunately. Most sources give the commentator's name as "Charles Gardiner", but I've not been able to find much else out about him. He _may_ have been the son of George Gardiner, who was a highly-decorated pilot in WWI, but I can't confirm that. The BBC's aviation correspondent at the time was Charles _Gardner,_ who was already well-known for his live descriptions of the Battle of Britain and who might be a more plausible candidate, but I've not been able to find anything that suggests he was at Farnborough.

[@stephensaunders1845]

@@Tevildo It was Charles Gardner ('Gardiner' is a misspelling). His son, Robert, recalls his father's wartime reports for the BBC and his subsequent career - including commentary at Farnborough - in his biography, Battle of Britain Broadcaster.

[@Tevildo]

@@stephensaunders1845 Thanks very much! I suspected that was the case, but I didn't find any corroboration in a brief search.

[@johnjephcote7636]

@@fourutubez7294 Baxter was an ex-fighter pilot and did many air commentaries. He is visible among spectators at the very start of your video.

[@secretslayer1234]

Another video, and great timing

[@carpemkarzi]

Excellent as always.

[@SixArmedSweater]

Please make that other video! I love design failure analysis. 💕

[@tomb4496]

Always enjoy these videos

[@Le_Comte_de_Monte_Felin]

0:22 - Is that 'Walt Disney'? He sure looks 'excited'! LOVE your videos - Less than a minute in and I know this one is going to be entertainingly informative. Yes - it will end in tragedy but folks watch the 'news' every evening for updated / daily tragedy in hopes it's in their neighborhood. Thanks for the step back and educational overview of events that are likely forgotten by those who should most remember them.

[@FatBlockOfHash]

Ah I'm excited for this one! Farnborough is one of the next towns away from the one I live in. Absolutely love the airshow, Wasnt around when this disaster happened but everyone knows of it around here, such an awful incident. RIP to those involved 💙❤

[@XANApwns]

I get the feeling this one hits a lot closer to home for you than most, not just because of the location but by your apparent passion for aircraft. I could tell by the more somber tone, the intro being at the very start, the section title cards which are new, and the fact that the rating was at the end. Forgive me if I’m wrong, these are just observations from a longtime watcher

[@29jug11]

This had sad memories for me, because the young sister of a fellow pupil at my school was killed outright by that falling engine….. an extremely sad time ….I was almost 15 years old then.

[@DoeJam13]

This format change is neat, although I do miss your dry humor in this style. Would like to see more air disaster stuff too! Also on a minor note the image credits are a bit tiny and hard to read at times. Good stuff as always!

[@killman369547]

I do like his dry humor, but this episode didn't seem like the right place for it this time so i'm glad he kept a more serious tone in this one.

[@Zachmman1997]

I found an interesting accident that you might want to cover in a video. In San Antonio Texas at the Medina Modification Center On November 13, 1963 there was a major accident involving numerous nuclear bomb components. A small fire started in a bunker that served as a dismantling bunker for nuclear weapons. And it exploded. This happened only 9 days before JFK was assassinated so this event was nearly erased from history because coverage was very limited.

[@crashstitches79]

Also, 30+ G's is insane and would have instantly incapacitated the aircrew. When the P-51 Galloping Ghost's trim tab failed and sent the plane sky-looping into the Reno grandstands, the pilot only took about 17, and he was out instantly with no hope of recovery. It happened to Voodoo at Reno in 1998, but the plane didn't roll. Instead, the pilot woke up at 9000' in a steep climb at full throttle, and was able to recover.

[@Turbopotato-fp9yd]

i could never in my life beable to guessd what topic you're gonna pick for your videos haha good stuff though!

[@Caspero68o]

I witnessed a Russian trainer jet crash at our local airshow. He steered it into a field instead of ejecting. I remember the fire ball explosion. I'll never forget it.

[@harleyv1969]

Great content on this channel, friend 👌

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@kdj7337orlando]

Absolutely love you patented scales!

[@michaelpeters7044]

I watched this video in a currently Sunny cool Midwest America. Lol Another good video dude.

[@TheMixCurator]

Love the nod to old broadcasting with the inclusion of the black/white box that appears in the top right of the frame 👍

[@samuelidredd8921]

I love your work, Keep them coming please. Jah Bless🙏🏾

[@kavemanthewoodbutcher]

Looking forward to your "Dumpster Fire" series John!

[@bored.2562]

i live in farnborough so i was suprised to see this video in my recommended, all the times i’ve seen the air show happening and the planes flying i never realised anything this horrible happened, the loud jets definitely get annoying tho 💀

[@willb9259]

A few years back I watched a video of a plane crash into a crowd at a Russian air show in 2002. It was one of the most messed up things I've ever seen fr

[@SurgeDashcam]

Shoreham Airshow video next? As someone who lives 5 minutes from Farnborough and had family who helped organise Shoreham Airshow, it is sad to see both events have come to an end as I frequently attended both events (I was especially fortunate to have access to the VIP viewing area at Shoreham with front row views of the display) . The Shoreham Airshow crash actually happened the one year I didn't attend, but I guess not being there was probably for the better.

[@FatBlockOfHash]

I'm also like 10 mins away from Farnborough. I remember the Shoreham accident, that was truly awful, how that pilot survived I'll never know... Cant wait to go to the next Farnborough airshow 👌

[@SaltimusMaximus]

Air shows have been in decline for some years, the range of aircraft at them has been reducing, now it is thought everyone just wants to see Spitfires all the time

[@DerGolgo]

re 6:08: Vickers Vulcan? You tripped up there a little. Among the RAF's nuclear "V-Bombers" were the Vickers Valiant and the Avro Vulcan. Since the Avro Vulcan was a tailless-delta, your mention of "swept wing" suggests to me you meant to say "Vickers Valiant".

[@TheBio42]

Have you thought about doing the ramstein disaster? Good video as always!

[@spikescott6011]

Love your work.

[@jonfox8010]

During my time in the Royal Navy I had the pleasure of working on both the Venom, the Vixen and the Phantom. They were all great aircraft but my favourite was always the Vixen. It looked the business and was easy to work on.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Ah nice! It is odd with the offset crew compartment though!

[@jonfox8010]

@@PlainlyDifficult Offset and with just a tiny window to look out of it was dark and very cramped for the observer.