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The Swallow
The De Havilland 108 Crash
15 February 1950
The de Havilland 108 was a swept wing high speed
research aircraft built to explore the effects of high speed
flight close to the speed of sound. Powered by a de
Havilland Goblin jet engine, the aircraft was constructed using
a standard de Havilland Vampire fuselage with a newly designed
swept back wing at the de Havilland factory at Hatfield.
Three aircraft were built for the programme: TG283, TG306 in
1946 and VW120 in 1947. Click here
to see a photograph of VW120 The story of the three
prototypes is told in the book by Brian Rivas A
Very British Sound Barrier - DH108: A Story of Courage, Triumph
and Tragedy.
TG306 crashed on 27th September 1946 killing the
pilot Geoffrey de Havilland during a high speed dive.
TG283 crashed on 1st May 1950 killing the pilot George Genders
whilst carrying out stalling trails at Hartley Wintney.
VW120 crashed on 15 February 1950 at Little
Brickhill whilst involved in transonic dive research, killing
the pilot Squadron Leader Stuart Muller-Rowland. The test
flight was supposed to examine the effects of change from
sub-sonic to transonic flight, but the aircraft is thought to
have broken up whilst in a dive. The inquest into
Muller-Rowland's death was opened two days later by North Bucks
Coroner Mr E T Ray at Bletchley. Witnesses told of hearing
an explosion. (Note: it is not clear if this
"explosion" was the cause of the aircraft breaking up
or a sonic boom.)
Some of the wreckage came down at Little Brickhill, the cockpit came down somewhere near Bow Brickhill
church. Other pieces were found as far away as Husborne
Crawley. Muller-Rowland's body was found near Sandy Lane
between Bow Brickhill and Woburn Lane. Woburn, Bletchley
and Leighton Buzzard fire brigades were all called out to attend
the accident. Because of the secrecy of the aircraft the
local police sealed the area to keep the public away, and after
the crash police officers visited local schools to appeal for
any 'souvenirs' to be returned.
Stuart Muller-Rowland was born on 27th November 1921 in Woking,
Surrey. During the war he flew Bristol Blenheim bombers
with 60 Squadron in India, later flying Bristol Beaufighters
with 211 Squadron in Burma. After the war, with the rank
of Squadron Leader, he joined the Empire Test Pilots School,
completing No. 6 course. He was posted to the Royal
Aircraft Establishment in 1948 and was named DH 108 pilot for
the high speed programme.
VW120 was the first British aircraft to break the sound
barrier on 6th September 1948 piloted by John Derry. In fact VW
120 was only the third aircraft ever to fly at Mach 1. VW 120's
first flight was on 24th July 1947 piloted by John Cunningham. The
three de Havilland 108 aircraft made a total of 480 flights that greatly
explained a lot of the questions that needed to be answered about the
transition to sonic flight, although all three aircraft eventually
crashed killing their test pilots. Unofficially the DH 108 was
known as "The Swallow".
The information above is from Jack Bromfield
Buckinghamshire Aircraft Recovery Group, Bletchley Park |
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