ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 210543
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| Date: | Thursday 4 November 1920 |
| Time: | 17:00 |
| Type: |  Bristol F.2b Fighter |
| Owner/operator: | 24 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | F4852 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF Kenley, Whyteleafe, Surrey, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Winchester |
| RAF Kenley, Surrey | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Bristol Fighter F4852: Written off (destroyed) 4/11/20 when hit tree landing in fog, at RAF Kenley.
They had flown to Winchester but on return encountered heavy fog.
Crew:
F/O Harold Oliver Prout AFC (pilot) RAF: killed
F/O Horace Edgar Fenwick (pass.) RAF killed
On 4th November, 1920, F/O Prout AFC and his passenger, F/O Fenwick, were on the return leg of a trip to Winchester when they arrived back at Kenley, just after 16:30hrs, to find the airfield shrouded in thick fog.
Sgt Frank Ashdown of the Metropolitan Police, Kenley, saw their Bristol Fighter (F4852) pass low over his house in Godstone Road heading towards Kenley at 16:30 hrs. It returned and passed overhead a second time. This time it appeared to Ashdown that the occupants of the aeroplane were standing up in the cockpit. They headed back towards the airfield – he lost sight of them in the fog and almost immediately heard a crash. Sgt. Ashdown discovered the two pilots dead near Hawkhirst Rd. They had hit a tree and come down in a spot known as Fox’s Hold Field. He discovered Fenwick’s body lying between the two near side wings and Prout’s securely strapped in the pilot’s seat amongst the wreckage, so Ashdown realised that he couldn’t have been standing up.
Dr. Walter Eaton Smith was called – he saw the bodies and said that Fenwick had suffered a fractured skull and a broken leg, while Prout’s chest had been crushed by being wedged in the cockpit – he had also suffered a fractured skull.
At the inquest into their deaths, held at the Rose and Crown Hotel, Whyteleafe, Flight Lieutenant Trevor Salt stated that the Prout had come to him that morning for a machine, having obtained his Commanding Officer’s permission to take Fenwick to Winchester on business concerning wireless telegraphy. They had left Kenley in the morning, bound for Winchester, and the weather was fine when they began their return journey in the afternoon. However, a heavy fog had closed in on Kenley at 3.45pm and Salt had phoned Winchester to warn them about the weather conditions, but he was too late to prevent them from leaving. He explained to the Coroner that Kenley “was difficult to land in, the trees rendering it particularly dangerous during foggy weather.”
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1925.htm
2. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?16863-RAF-Officer-Deaths-1920
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?16863-RAF-Officer-Deaths-1920/page2
4. https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/harold-oliver-prout/164739329
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-May-2018 23:33 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 17-Oct-2018 05:59 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
| 02-Feb-2019 18:50 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 10-Jul-2023 21:15 | Nepa | Updated [[Aircraft type]] |
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