“THERE was a terrible sound, like a roar…there was metal falling from the sky.”
That was how Forest resident Peggy Hoare described the moment she saw a prototype nuclear bomber jet crash in flames at Harrow Hill, Bransgore, in 1952.
She was just 11 when the Vickers Valiant B1 aircraft, the first of its kind developed in Britain, took off from Hurn on a test flight over the Forest.
The Vickers Valiant B1 prototype aircraft, registration WB210, over the Solent just months before the crash
One of the five airmen on board was killed when the wing of the aircraft, registration number WB210, caught fire mid-flight.
It was reported that after the fire broke out, the crewman tried to escape the aircraft using an ejector seat but struck the tail of the plane and was killed.
Peggy recalls it was a normal day on Harrow Farm, where her family lived and worked when the drama unfolded.
“There was a terrible sound, like a roar, as the plane went overhead. The engine had already fallen off and the plane was low,” she said.
The Vickers Valiant, registration number WB210, at Hurn just before its ill-fated test flight
“All the cattle were in the yard and the sound had spooked them. The next thing I knew there was metal falling from the sky and I remember my mum telling me to run and wait indoors.”
Peggy’s parents Mary and Herbert ran Harrow Farm under lease from 1947 until they left in 1974. Peggy recalls the farm was a hive of activity in the days and weeks after the crash as military personnel and emergency services investigated and cleaned up.
“I remember for weeks after the crash we had RAF people living on the farm while they were investigating,” she told the A&T. “There were police stood on the gate and stopping people there before letting them in and out.”
The A&T’s report on the crash
Online Aviation Safety Network (ASN) reports show the experimental aircraft, built by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, took off around 3pm on Saturday, 12th June 1952 from Hurn airport.
The ASN records: “It was…test flying (and) making internal noise measurements. This involved shutting down and reigniting its engines, which caused fuel to leak into the starboard wing…and a severe fire to break out in the trailing edge, which burned through the starboard wing.
“Being unable to extinguish the fire and losing control of the Valiant, the decision was made to abandon the aircraft at about 6,000 feet over Holmsley South Airfield, north-east of Christchurch.
“Both the pilot, Vickers’ chief test pilot Gabe Robb Bryce, and the RAF co-pilot, Squadron Leader BHD Foster, had the benefit of ejector seats with which to do so. Foster jettisoned the canopy and ejected first but unfortunately his ejector seat collided with the tail fin of the Valiant and he was killed.”
A contemporary source on the crash said Squadron Leader Foster may have been killed as a result of the blast from an exploding fuel tank “reducing his ejection speed to an untenable level” and thus not clearing the tail.
The ASN report continues: “However another (report) suggests the early Martin Baker ejection seats fitted to the Valiant had insufficient power and speed to be certain of them clearing the tail.
“It is noted that more powerful ejection seats were fitted to subsequent aircraft as well as modifications being made to the Valiant’s fuel and fire precaution systems.”
Three test flight observers GR Holland, JN Montgomery and J Protheroe-Thomas – in the rear cabin of the aircraft – did not have ejector seats. It was recorded they had “difficulty” getting out of the Valiant as it crashed but did so and landed safely by parachute. By this time fire had begun to “ignite” the plane.
The report concluded: “When they had left the Valiant, Bryce ejected, using his ejector seat, and landed successfully. The Valiant crashed in Harrow Wood, Bransgore, and was destroyed.”
The ASN also recorded a contradiction over the death of Squadron Leader Foster, An eyewitness to the crash said: “Part of this report is incorrect. The co-pilot’s ejection seat operated correctly, and both pilots were well clear of the aircraft. I watched the whole event unfolding, and at no time did the ejection seats pass anywhere near the tail fin.”
Regardless of the precise details of the ill-fated test flight, the Vickers Valiant had a short service lifespan. It was quickly surpassed by more advanced V bombers and was converted to a tanker role for in-flight refuelling.
The Valiant was later scrapped in 1965 after metal fatigue was found in the wings of several aircraft.
– With thanks to Christchurch History Society and photographer Mike Phipp