Spitfire crash in Norway 21 August 2010

[Planebeach]

A Spitfire crashed today in Norway during landing, pilot was unfortnatly killed. My he rest in peace!

The Spitfire was landing at Tynset airport when it crashed, it belongs to Biltema a Swedish company. Plane is SE-BIN or SE-BIR. The plane was here for an airshow tomorrow.

[davem]

Reported to be this aircraft:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregi ... sm845.html

http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/08/21/nyhe ... /13057945/

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/arti ... d=10044595

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hedm ... /1.7258558

English translation with photo links:

http://go.nrk.no/go/e/article;siteId=18 ... nMFQ5TpiTw

Last edited by davem on Sat Aug 21, 2010 2:36 pm, edited 6 times in total.

[Planebeach]

Here is a link to news story in Norway.

http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/08/21/nyhe ... /13057945/

[RMAllnutt]

How very, very sad... my thoughts are with the pilots family and friends...

Richard

[Lynn Allen]

Very sad indeed. My thoughts and prayers to the family as well...

[lmritger]

How terribly sad, to lose a pilot in what seems such a mundane manner... looks as though it dug in and flipped, the same sort of accident which claimed so many lives during the war, and which killed Harry Doan in his Skyraider several years back.

The plane can be fixed, but the pilot absolutely cannot be replaced. My thoughts and condolences go to his family and friends.

Lynn

[JDK]

Sad news.

How terribly sad, to lose a pilot in what seems such a mundane manner... looks as though it dug in and flipped, the same sort of accident which claimed so many lives during the war, and which killed Harry Doan in his Skyraider several years back.

Indeed. And also the tragic fatal accident of Paul Morgan's Sea Fury at Sywell in 2001, which cost him his life. There was much debate about the removal of the roll over protection structure in the case of Morgan's Sea Fury for the fitment of a second (jump) seat. This is an extract from the AAIB report on that Sea Fury accident:

It is understood that prior to its import into the UK from the USA, this aircraft had been modified to
remove protective structures installed by the manufacturer immediately behind the pilot's station,
and which historically have provided pilots with a measure of protection during turn-over type
accidents. This was apparently done in order make space available for the installation of a jump
seat behind the pilot, within the original canopy glazing, allowing a passenger to be carried. A
similarly modified aircraft suffered a fatal landing accident in similar circumstances in the United
States during 1996. However, in both accidents, the aircraft came to rest inverted on unprepared
surfaces and the effectiveness of such a protective structure in these circumstances is not proven.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... 500974.pdf

Without speculating on the cause/s of this crash, in this case the low-back Spitfires do have an armour triangle behind the pilot's head, which I understand is also intended to act as a rollover protection structure; but in this case, the structure was not enough to save the pilot's life. Grass runway operations are in most ways better for aircraft of this type and era, but this is one where there's a significant risk.

Very sad for the pilot's family and numerous others.

My condolences,

[RyanShort1]

Very sad to hear this. Be careful, y'all!

Ryan

[Bruce]

Just to be clear here, this aircraft was, structurally, entirely as Supermarine intended. There can be no suggestion that the fatality was down to any removal of structure as was the case with the Sea Fury.


Bruce

[51fixer]

The Mk XVIII roll over structure does not present much surface area to distribute any load.
Basically an inverted V with an armor plate steel attached. I think it would act at like a shovel when impacted soft soil.
Wonder why he went off the runway?
Rich

[TimAPNY]

Prayers go out to Friends and Family. Sad news.

Tim

[JDK]

Just to be clear here, this aircraft was, structurally, entirely as Supermarine intended. There can be no suggestion that the fatality was down to any removal of structure as was the case with the Sea Fury.

Thanks for the clarification, Bruce.

As Rich has commented, even with it fitted it wasn't a life-saver in this case, tragically.

[Andy in West Oz]

Condolences to his family.

[Juke]

The XVIII is relatively new in the BILTEMA fleet. Is it a lot more demanding to fly in a small field than a IX for instance ?

[Juke]

The Mk XVIII roll over structure does not present much surface area to distribute any load.
Basically an inverted V with an armor plate steel attached. I think it would act at like a shovel when impacted soft soil.
Wonder why he went off the runway?
Rich

As far as I know he ( Bertil ) was trying to abort the landing..and then hit the long hey and went over the nose.
Also a video exists of the mishap...not yet available for the public.