We are delighted to feature another guest post from David Coxon, Honorary Vice President of Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.
David writes:
On 3 March 1955 a No 34 Squadron Meteor F8 jet fighter (WE963) aircraft took off from runway 07 at RAF Tangmere. Shortly after departure the Meteor collided with a Royal Navy Sea Vampire T22 (XG765) which had just departed from Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Ford. The Meteor suffered severe damage and crashed two miles west of Paines Wood, a forested area off the A29 between Slindon and Arundel, West Sussex. Although the Meteor F8 was fitted with an early ejection seat, Flying Officer Timothy John Hartnoll was unable to use it to escape from the cockpit of his crashing aircraft and he was killed. The Sea Vampire, although damaged, was able to return and land safely at RNAS Ford.
An eyewitness, Mrs Elizabeth Stapler, when interviewed by a Portsmouth Evening News reporter five days after the fatal accident, said, “They looked so pretty. The sun was shining on them and I was just thinking how beautiful they looked when they came together. There was a bang and they started to fall together. One of them – the one which fell near here – burst into flames as it fell.”
It was known that the circuits of RNAS Ford and RAF Tangmere were very close together. It remains uncertain as to whether, at the time of the accident, any liaison took place between the local controls at the two units. However, as a result of this accident, standing orders were introduced that no aircraft taking off from RAF Tangmere’s runway 07 should turn right after departure to avoid straying into the circuit of RNAS Ford unless it was absolutely essential or in the case of an emergency. Tangmere No 34 Squadron’s Flying Officer Timothy John Hartnoll is buried in the St Andrew’s churchyard, Tangmere.
