Airshow horror at jet ploughs into crowd at 700mph, killing 29 spectators

The Post reported on the Farnborough Airshow disaster, on September 7, 1952.

“The DH110, flying at more than 700mph, exploded in mid-air during the Farnborough air display yesterday,” read the front page. “Late last night, the death roll had risen to 27. Piloted by John Derry, the plane dived from a height of more than eight miles, crashed through the sonic barrier and produced a startling, vivid, triple explosion as it went faster than sound.

“An air correspondent writes: ‘The vast crowd were taut with admiration and excitement as Derry brought his machine hurtling down. For a moment I saw it holding straight on its course as it screamed towards me. The next instant, just as it reached the centre of the aerodrome, it blew up. The slim, streamlined shape disintegrated as though some malignant giant had crushed it like matchwood in is mighty grasp. The engines spiralled wildly into the air. One buried itself in a hillside crowded with spectators. The other disappeared over the crest of the ground.’”

The final death toll was 31 and the accident was blamed on mechanical failure of the plane’s wings. The crash led to stricter safety procedures at UK air shows and there were no spectator deaths until the crash at Shoreham Airshow in 2015, where 11 died.