Hunter T7 Crash
In 1982 I was stationed at RAF Brawdy and while I was there three Hunter T7 trainers were lost. Investigation subsequently
found this was due to engine failure caused by a worn rubber diaphram within the compressor bleed off valve. (The valve
was found to be opening too late on throttle-back causing the compressor to surge). Two of the aircraft were dumped in
the sea by their crew but this one, which should have ended up in Camarthen Bay turned itself round (after the crew
had successfully ejected) and crash landed just north of the bay, a few hundreds yards from a farm house. My job for
a weekend was to be I/C guard party. While I was there I took these photos.
The aircraft had "landed" itself almost perfectly. The first picture shows me, (the site administrator)
posing by the "dead" aircraft. The last picture shows the route it took on landing. The aircraft just
missed a minor road, (I was standing on this when taking the last photo) went through a hedge, accross a field, through another
hedge before coming to rest in an adjacent field. Fortunately no one was killed or injured in the incident.
The "Crash and Smash" team from Abingdon removed it about a week later.
The occupants of the nearby farm house, who were having lunch at the time did not realise it had
come down. A neighbour, another farmer, who lived about a quarter of a mile away first noticed a cloud of dust
making its way towards the house. When the dust had settled and he saw what had happened through a pair of binocculars,
he then phoned his neighbour to tell him what had happend.