Airco DH 9a
light bomber, no E8628, from RAF Shotwick [later renamed Sealand]
Mainly built by Westland, with the US Liberty 12 engine of 400 hp, 2-seater.
Flying School No. 5: pilot - trainee Robert Cecil Brooke-Hunt, age 25.
26 March 1923, broke up in the air and fell in 3 parts
Parts landed in Heswall tidal Gutter, approx: 53°19.49N, 3°7.44W.
Pilot died.
Image of a DH 9A:
Gloucestershire Echo - Tuesday 27 March 1923:
AIR PILOT KILLED CRASH ON THE BANKS OF DEE.
An aeroplane from Shotwick
Aerodrome, D.H.9a. No. E. 8628, fell into the River Dee on Monday, and
Pilot Officer R. C. Brooke-Hunt, who was flying it for his height
test, was killed. The dead pilot came from No. 5 Flying Training
School.
He was making towards the river mouth when an explosion
occurred and the engine was seen to fall in the water a little distance
from Heswall Station, towards Thurstaston. The main body of the machine
followed, and little farther on the wings fell on to the sands of the
river. The accident was witnessed by a large number of people. One of the
first on the scene was Dr. G. Stansfield, formerly medical officer of the
Birkenhead Guardians, who, with his gardener, Griffiths, was in his
garden close to the shore at Heswall.
They heard a loud explosion and saw a
sheet of flame. The machine parted as the engine dropped into the river. The body
fell some little distance away, and the doctor and Griffiths ran towards
the wreckage, which they found in about a foot to eighteen inches of
water. Griffiths lifted the wreck of the machine and pulled out the pilot,
who was dead. He had apparently been killed instantly. There were no signs
of burning the body.
Cheshire Observer - Saturday 31 March 1923 [abridged]:
AEROPLANE TRAGEDY. Pilot Killed at Heswall. Machine Falls into the Dee.
A military
aeroplane from Shotwick Aerodrome, and in charge of Pilot Robert
Cecil Brooke-Hunt (aged 24 years) RAF of Spilsby House, Spilsby, Lincolnshire,
broke to pieces while in mid-air over Heswall and the river Dee, about
noon on Monday, and crashed into the river. The pilot was killed
instantaneously. The machine split into three parts, the engine falling
into the river close to Heswall Railway station, the wrecked fuselage,
under which the pilot was pinned, fell into about eighteen inches of
water a couple of hundred feet further towards the Dee estuary, and the
wings, which had become detached, floated about a quarter of a mile down
the river.
THE INQUEST. BROTHER OFFICER'S EVIDENCE.
Mr. J. C. Bate (West Cheshire Coroner) held an enquiry into the
tragedy at the Assembly Rooms, Heswall, on Wednesday morning, Those
present included the Commanding Officer from Shotwick Aerodrome, and
Supt. Ennion.
Flying Officer Clifford Westley Busk, Flying Instructor,
5th Flying Training School, Shotwick, the first witness, said that on Monday
morning, the machine Mr. Brooke-Hunt flew was first taken up by Flying Officer Lloyd
Evans. Later it was brought back, and reported as quite correct.
Afterwards witness instructed Mr. Brooke-Hunt to go up for an hour on a
practice flight, and to keep at gliding distance from the aerodrome.
The height to which the pilot might have taken the machine could have been
fifteen thousand feet. Witness saw the machine "take off the ground"
up to two thousand feet, and everything appeared "OK". This was the
pilot's last type of machine to fly before he was qualified. Mr.
Brooke-Hunt, in his (witness') opinion, was a promising pupil. Witness had
been up in the machine about nine times since it was brought from the
shop about eight days previous to the accident.
In reply to the Coroner, witness said that it was probable that the
back-firing heard by by-standers was caused by the pilot's using the
appliance for reducing the petrol consumption. When witness heard of
the accident, he went to the scene and assisted in taking away the
broken parts. Witness did not make a very careful examination of the
parts, because this was usually done by experts, who reported on the
matter. There was no expert report available at present. None of the
cylinders was missing, and the propellor was shattered. There was
nothing in the condition of the engine to indicate that there had been
anything wrong prior to the fall. He could not offer any explanation
why the engine should have come away from the machine. The fuselage
was broken. When the engine came off, the pilot would been quite
helpless.
AT A GREAT HEIGHT. MACHINE FELL TO PIECES. Another eyewitness,
Edward Smith, Kirby-road, Heswall, said he saw the plane before the
explosion. It was flying in the direction of Shotwick at a great
height. The engine was going. There was no "stunting" going on. Five
minutes later, witness looked up again at the plane, which was still
going in the same direction, but "planing" downwards. Then he heard a
series of explosions, and the machine broke completely apart. The
reports were like a machine gun. He heard about six reports, which
sounded one after another. Then the 'plane was not as high as when he
first saw it. He saw no smoke. When the explosion took place, the
machine broke to pieces in the air. The machine was making its way to
the foreshore before the explosion, and before he heard the reports he
thought it was coming down. After a series of small explosions there
was a louder explosion. The machine fell to pieces immediately before
the loud explosion. There was no smoke after the loud explosion. He was
quite sure it was an explosion he heard, and not the breaking of the
machine. What he now knew to be the engine was the first part to
break away from the machine. After the engine he saw a sandbag come
down.
Then he saw the wings break away from the
machine, and the body part of the plane came down in a spiral. It landed
nose down in the water, and something was hanging from it. When the
machine reached the water, the tail stuck up in the air. The machine fell in
about two feet of water.
INSTRUCTOR'S VIEWS.
Flying Officer Lloyd Evans, instructor at Shotwick Aerodrome, said he
took up the machine prior to Mr. Brooke-Hunt's flight. The machine was
a big service machine, and, when flown by one men, it carried ballast.
In his opinion the noise heard by eye-witnesses of the tragedy would
be caused by the breaking of the machine. What had been described as
several successive shots would be the breaking of various parts of the
machine. Mr. Brooke-Hunt had been taught "stunting" on smaller
machines, and it was possible he might have tried to "stunt". There
were instructions against "stunting" with that type of heavy service
machine, and Mr. Brooke-Hunt knew of those instructions. It was
possible that the accident might have occurred as a result of the
pilot's attempting to pull out of a nose-dive.
He [the coroner] found that death was due to accidental cause.