ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 240889
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| Date: | Wednesday 22 February 1950 |
| Time: | 16:00 LT |
| Type: |  Fairey Firefly FR Mk 1 |
| Owner/operator: | 796 Sqn FAA RN |
| Registration: | DK532 |
| MSN: | F.7764 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Camel Estuary, Padstow Bay, off Padstow, Cornwall, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | HMS Vulture, RNAS St.Merryn, Cornwall |
| HMS Vulture, RNAS St.Merryn, Cornwall | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Fairey Firefly FR.Mk.1 DK532: First recorded 1/1/1946 with 1792 Squadron FAA RN. Damaged 14/2/1946 when ran off the deck on landing aboard HMS Ocean, port wheel went off the edge of the deck and into the walkway. Pilot Sub Lieutenant R.H.Hunt uninjuried. Repaired and returned to service.
Damaged again 7/3/1946 when struck by Firefly PP424 (also of 1792 Squadron FAA RN) on the deck of HMS Ocean. Offloaded to HMS Sanderling, RNAS Abbotsinch for repairs. After repairs, issued 23/6/1948 to the Royal Naval Section at the TRE (Telecommunications Research Establishment) at RAF Defford for use as a target aircraft in ASH (Air-to-Surface Homing) radar trials. Damaged during these trials 19/8/1948 when made an emergency landing at RAF Defford due to fumes in the cockpit and hydraulic failure. Pilot Lieutenant H.J.Westwood became ill due to inhalation of fumes.
To RNARY (Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard) Fleetlands for repairs 3/3/1949. Test flown after repairs at RNAY Fleetlands, thence to HMS Siskin, RNAS Gosport 16/9/1949. Delivered to HMS Vulture, RNAS St.Merryn, Cornwall by January 1950, and issued to 796 Squadron FAA RN.
Written off 22/2/1950: Crashed into the Camel Estuary, Padstow Bay, off Padstow, Cornwall. Pilot - Lieutenant Noel Stewart Ferris - was recovered, but later died of injuries sustained. According to the following extract from his biography:
"As a young married man with flying experience, seeking a secure job in aviation, Ferris would have been attracted to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) advertisements about vacancies for aircrew in the Fleet Air Arm. On 3 February 1948 he was sworn-in as a probational Acting Lieutenant (P) in the RAN, and was posted to HMAS Cerberus FND, the RAN training school at Melbourne’s Western Port Bay, for an RAN induction course. On 10 July 1948 he was confirmed as Lieutenant Ferris (P) RAN. Then for further seamanship training, he was drafted to the Tribal-class destroyer HMAS Arunta from 12 July 1948 to 9 December 1948. After several weeks leave both Ferris and his wife Shirley took passage on RMS Strathaird to the UK in January 1949, for training and flying conversion courses.
He arrived in the UK on 16 February 1949, and joined No 22 Flying Training School at RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire. Then on 30 March he moved to HMS Fulmar RNAS Lossiemouth, Scotland, for a ‘strike’ course. The next posting on 6 July 1949 was to HMS Gannet, RNAS Eglinton, Northern Ireland, for a second, high grade ‘strike’ course with live ammunition. In October he went to HMS Vulture RNAS St Merryn, near Padstow, Cornwall, exercising with 796 Squadron. Then for a warfare training course at HMS Dryad, at Southwick, Hampshire, followed in December 1949 by a further SMAC course at HMS Daedalus RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, a major training base for the Fleet Air Arm.
By this stage Ferris would have been in the final stages of his FAA training and have been instructed in landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Details are not clear as to which airfield he departed from, but Ferris was piloting a Fairey Firefly FR.1 (serial DK532) aircraft on 22 February 1950 and at about 4 pm, near Padstow, Cornwall, when the engine apparently failed and the aircraft crashed into the sea. He was rescued by a naval launch from Padstow, but died later. He is buried at St Merryn Parish Church, Cornwall. UK.
Following an inquest, the ‘Cornish Guardian’ reported the incident as follows:
‘The pilot of an aircraft [which crashed into the sea off Padstow on 22 February 1950] was rescued alive but later died in hospital, a post mortem examination, revealing that he died from drowning. Lt Ferris’s aircraft nosedived into the sea outside the Camel estuary.
He was picked up by a rescue launch within 20 minutes through prompt action of the people who saw the crash from the shore. It was stated at the inquest that, although it was unusual, it was not impossible for a man to die from drowning sometime after being taken out of the water. Mr R S Males, a volunteer coastguard at Polzeath, said he heard the engine of the plane splutter and cut out and saw the machine go into a vertical dive into the sea. Mr S Roberts, the coxswain of the naval rescue launch at Padstow, said he was guided to Lt Ferris by a Lancaster of Coastal Command from St Eval. While artificial respiration was being applied, Lt Ferris sat up and asked, “where am I?” The County Coroner, Mr E W Gill, recorded a verdict of cardio respiratory failure caused by the accidental crashing of Mr Ferris’s plane into the sea.”
Firefly DK532 Formally Struck Off Charge as Cat.ZZ on 25/2/1950
Sources:
1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant, Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain, 2004 pp.231 & 300)
2. Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October 1950
3. https://www.faaaa.asn.au/ferris-n-f/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Camel#Estuary
5. http://www.fleetairarmfriends.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/11661_Jabberwock_Issue_77_-54671.pdf (Pages 6 & 7)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Sep-2020 17:05 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 03-Sep-2020 19:33 | Boile A. | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator] |
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