Sea Fury WG655 Forced Landing Nr Duxford - 04/8/20

[Bradburger]

Sadly Shawn Patrick's R-2800 powered Sea Fury WG655/G-INVN made a forced landing near Duxford yesterday afternoon following an apparent engine failure - both occupants are reported to be ok with minor injuries. Unfortunately, the Sea Fury was substantially damaged.

'High Flight' has posted some video footage of the aircraft starting up and taking off prior to the flight, followed by the wreckage in the field : -

https://youtu.be/h6H0YAE2p0g

(Note the smoke trail on the port side, just as the gear comes up).

Cheers

Paul

[Zac Yates]

I'm glad the crew aren't badly hurt. But poor old 655 can't catch a break - I can't help but be reminded of the similarly-catastrophic accident this airframe suffered 30 years ago.

[quemerford]

Indeed: I too was struck by the similarity of '655's previous field day. Let's hope that a rebuild is on the cards.

[CAPFlyer]

Wow, glad the crew got out safely. The pilot was especially lucky looking at how the cockpit apparently split there at the end.

Always unfortunate when a warbird gets bent up, but the important part is the people inside come away okay.

[DH82EH]

Wow!
That could have had a much more horrific outcome. Thank goodness she did not catch fire.
My best wishes for the recovery of the crew. So relieved to hear that they weren't badly injured.

Andy

[cfin101]

Goodness! She's bent up! Glad the crew survived though, wonder if she'll be put back together again?

[Bearcat SA]

Indeed: I too was struck by the similarity of '655's previous field day. Let's hope that a rebuild is on the cards.

Anyone got a pic of what it looked like after its earlier prang and what the circumstances were ... also an engine out ?

[JohnTerrell]

Indeed: I too was struck by the similarity of '655's previous field day. Let's hope that a rebuild is on the cards.

Anyone got a pic of what it looked like after its earlier prang and what the circumstances were ... also an engine out ?

John Beatie, who was flying the aircraft in 1990 when it suffered a similar fate, had just taken off out of Yeovilton and was passing over Bruton when the engine had a major failure and complete loss of power. He got the aircraft turned around back toward Yeovilton but had to put it down in a field near Castle Cary. He was able to put it down in a 150-acre field and the wheels-up landing went okay at first, but then the aircraft turned and slid down a hill and hit the only two trees in the middle of the otherwise wide-open field. The aircraft was later obtained by Chuck Greenhill (Kenosha, WI) in 1993, and it was restored by Tim McCarter and Sanders Aeronautics, not flying again until 2005. The aircraft was operating with a Centaurus up until several years ago when a series of maintenance headaches led to the Centaurus being replaced with a R-2800 while owned by The Fighter Collection. It has more recently been owned by Shaun Patrick since 2018, operated by the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation, and had been recently for sale.

These are some screen grabs of the 1990 accident from a British documentary I've had on DVD about the aircraft. Both pilot and passenger in this incident also experienced non life-threatening injuries. I would say the aircraft was worse off in the 1990 incident than it is now.

[Bearcat SA]

Thanks John, seems it came off even worse in the 1990 prang

[JohnB]

Thanks John, seems it came off even worse in the 1990 prang

Yes, by comparison, the recent incident is a "That will buff right out" thing!

By any objective measure (non-warbird), the earlier crash would have been a write-off. It's a miracle it was repaired to fly (and sadly crash) again.

[Mike]

The aircraft which crashed on Tuesday was essentially a different one altogether from the 1990 one. After the crash it was parted out, the power wing fold mechanism going into an ex-Iraqi Fury in New Zealand. The ‘new’ WG655 was built up from mostly ex-Iraqi parts, using very little from the original other than the identity and paperwork. Some of the bits from the original ended up in various other rebuilds, some are still stored with Sanders at Ione.

[DH82EH]

Thanks Mike.
Always appreciate your depth of knowledge.

Andy

[Hooligan2]

John Terrell, do you mind if I use a couple of your screen grabs on another forum please? Someone was asking about the earlier crash.

Great shame but it could have been so much worse...

[JohnTerrell]

Hooligan2, that would be fine with me.

Thank you Mike for more details about the rebuilt WG655. It was a joy to see it at Oshkosh in 2007 when Chuck Greenhill still owned it.

Last edited by JohnTerrell on Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Deuelly]

Glad the crew got out as well as they did.

On a side note. I hope that if they rebuild it they put some funky nose art and the name "Tree Hugger" on the side.

Brandon