The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name, although it does state on the back of the card:
'British Photo Material
and Manufacture.'
The image is in fact a real photograph.
The card was posted using a 2d. stamp on Wednesday the 6th. August 1952 to:
Mrs. E. Henry,
'Woodvale',
Richmond Road,
Petersham,
Surrey.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"We are staying about 1½
miles from this village of
Hawkshead at a little farm.
The weather has been
rather wet, but the food
has more than made up
for it.
Have visited all the lakes
and really had a good
time.
Derry is still in hospital,
so Mother won't be at
'52'.
Love from Nora & Bob."
Hawkshead
Hawkshead is a village in Cumbria, England, which attracts tourists to the South Lakeland area. The parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to the north west, and Outgate, a similar distance north.
Hawkshead contains one primary school but no secondary school, and four public houses. The village's population at the 2011 census was 519.
Hawkshead is just north of Esthwaite Water, in a valley to the west of Windermere and east of Coniston Water. It is part of Furness, making it a part of the ancient county of Lancashire.
History of Hawkshead
The township of Hawkshead was originally owned by the monks of Furness Abbey; nearby Colthouse derives its name from the stables owned by the Abbey.
Hawkshead Parish Church was built in 1300 and re-built in the 16th. century.
Hawkshead grew to be an important wool market in medieval times and later as a market town after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1532. In 1585, Hawkshead Grammar School was established by Archbishop Edwin Sandys of York after he successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for a charter to establish a governing body.
Hawkshead was granted its first market charter by King James I in 1608.
In the 18th. and 19th. centuries, Hawkshead became a village of local importance. Hawkshead Market Hall was completed in 1790.
William Wordsworth (afterwards Poet Laureate) was educated at Hawkshead Grammar School, whilst Beatrix Potter lived nearby as did William Heelis, a local solicitor, in the early 20th. century.
With the formation of the Lake District National Park in 1951, tourism grew in importance, though traditional farming still goes on around the village. Hawkshead has a timeless atmosphere and consists of a characterful warren of alleys, overhanging gables and a series of mediaeval squares. It is eloquently described in William Wordsworth's poem The Prelude.
Much of the land in and around the village is now owned by the National Trust. The National Trust property is called Hawkshead and Claife.
The 1952 Farnborough Airshow Crash
So what else happened on the day that Nora and Bob posted the card?
Not a lot, but exactly one month later, Saturday the 6th. September 1952 marked the day of the Farnborough Airshow crash.
The crash followed the in-flight breakup of a prototype de Havilland 110 jet fighter due to structural failure.
Both men on board the aircraft died, along with 29 spectators. 60 spectators were injured.
The jet disintegrated in mid-air during an aerobatic manoeuvre, causing the death of pilot John Derry and onboard flight test observer Anthony Richards. Debris from the aircraft fell onto a crowd of spectators.
The cause of the break-up was later determined to be structural failure due to a design flaw in the wing's leading edge. All DH 110's were initially grounded, but after design modification, the type entered service with the Royal Navy as the Sea Vixen.
Stricter safety procedures were subsequently enacted for UK air shows, and there were no further spectator fatalities until the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash in which 11 people died.
The Crash
The planned demonstration of the DH 110 on that day was nearly cancelled when the aircraft at Farnborough, WG 240, an all-black night fighter prototype, became unserviceable.
It was de Havilland's second DH 110 prototype, and had been taken supersonic over the show on the opening day. Derry and Richards therefore collected WG 236, the first DH 110 prototype, from de Havilland's factory in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and flew it to Farnborough, starting their display at around 3:45 p.m.
Following a supersonic dive and flypast from 40,000 feet (12,000 m) and during a left bank at about 830 km/h (520 mph) toward the air show's 120,000 spectators, the pilot pulled up into a climb.
In less than a second, the aircraft disintegrated: the outer sections of the wing, both engines and the cockpit separated from the airframe. The cockpit, with the two crew members still inside, fell right in front of the spectators nearest the runway, injuring several people.
The engines travelled much further on a ballistic trajectory; one engine crashed harmlessly, but the second one ploughed into Observation Hill, causing most of the fatalities.
The rest of the airframe fluttered down and crashed on the opposite side of the runway.
One eyewitness was Richard Gardner, then five years old. He recalled in adulthood:
"I'll never forget, it looked like confetti, looked like silver confetti. The remaining airframe floated down right in front of us. It just came down like a leaf.
And then the two engines, like two missiles, shot out of the airframe and hurtled in the direction of the airshow.
There was a sort of silence, then people, one or two people screamed but mostly it was just a sort of shock. You could hear some people sort of whimpering which was quite shocking."
Sixty-three years later, speaking on the BBC Today radio programme in the wake of the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash, author Moyra Bremner recalled her own traumatic experience.
"A huge bang silenced the crowd and
was followed by "My God, look out,"
from the commentator."
Bremner, standing on the roof of her parents' car, realised that an engine was heading straight towards her. It passed a few feet over her head, a "massive shining cylinder", and then plunged into the crowd on the hill behind.
Following the accident, the air display programme continued once the debris was cleared from the runway, with Neville Duke exhibiting the prototype Hawker Hunter and taking it supersonic over the show later that day.
Commemoration
It took 69 years for the civilian casualties to be commemorated - a memorial consisting of 32 bricks inscribed with the name of the airshow and its 31 casualties was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum on the 6th. September 2021.
Aftermath of the Crash
Elizabeth II and Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Supply, both sent messages of condolence.
At the coroner's court, Group Captain Sidney Weetman Rochford Hughes, the commandant of the Experimental Flying Department, gave expert testimony, saying:
"From previous experience of Mr Derry's flying
demonstrations here on the four days of the
display, from the messages received from him
on the radio-telephone, and from investigation
of the wreckage, I am convinced that the pilot
had no warning whatsoever of the impending
failure of his aircraft."
The coroner's jury recorded that:
"Derry and Richards died accidentally
in the normal course of their duty.
The deaths of the spectators were
accidental.
No blame is attached to Mr. John
Derry".
Investigation Into the Crash
Author Brian Rivas, who co-wrote the 1982 book 'John Derry, The Story of Britain's First Supersonic Pilot' suggested that as Derry straightened up the aircraft and pulled into a climb, the outer part of the starboard wing failed and broke off, followed by the same section of the port wing.
The subsequent sudden change to the centre of gravity made the aircraft "rear up", tearing off the cockpit section, the two engines and the tailplane.
According to Rivas, subsequent investigations showed that the wing failed because it had only 64% of its intended strength.
More stringent airshow safety measures were subsequently introduced: jets were obliged to keep at least 230 m (750 ft) from crowds if flying straight and 450 m (1,480 ft) when performing manoeuvres, and always at an altitude of at least 150 m (490 ft).
