Sons see dad die in fireball crash on birthday gift flight
Brother’s video played for jury
THREE brothers watched in horror as their dad died in a plane crash fireball on a vintage fighter flight they bought him as a birthday treat.
Eldest son Robert was filming as John Marshall, 84, came in to land in the P-51D Mustang which bounced off the runway, an inquest heard.
Giving evidence Robert – who witnessed the tragedy alongside brothers Chris and Philip – said: “As it came to land, it touched down and I immediately thought, ‘That was hard’.”
On the video one brother is heard saying: “It’s going to crash.”
Robert added: “Next, Chris was saying, ‘Run, it’s going to hit us’. It was coming straight at us.
“I thought ‘I’ve to get dad out’. So I jumped on the wing. I took one look at dad and knew he was instantly killed.”
The retired farmer, of Willoughby Waterleys, Leics, had died of head and neck injuries. Pilot Maurice Hammond, 58, survived with burns and a broken neck. Mr Marshall’s sons bought him the 50-minute ride in the Second World War US plane because he loved military craft.
But a crosswind caused the plane to bounce on landing and it burst into flames after hitting an oak tree. Mr Hammond, who owned the Mustang, had tried to regain altitude, but the plane’s left wheel touched the soil in a ploughed field in October 2016, at Hardwick Airfield near Norwich.
Witnesses told the two-day inquest in the city that the aircraft turned into a “huge fireball”.
Mr Hammond of Eye, Suffolk, was in a coma and spent five weeks in hospital. He could not recall the crash. There was no evidence of any aircraft system failure, the inquest heard.
The jury concluded death by misadventure after the pilot failed to “compensate” for the crosswind.
I took one look at dad and knew that he was instantly killed ROBERT MARSHALL SON OF FLIGHT CRASH VICTIM