A NEW memorial will honour those who died when an aircraft on a test flight crashed in Downend.
It will be unveiled on November 6 – the 68th anniversary of the disaster, which claimed the lives of all 15 crew and technicians on board a prototype Bristol Britannia that crashed behind Overndale Road, during a flight from Filton.
The memorial will be placed at Aerospace Bristol, the museum that commemorates the area’s aviation history, to “honour the bravery of those who gave their lives for the progress of aviation safety”.
The museum has launched an appeal to trace relatives of those who lost their lives in the Britannia crash, along with others who died on Bristol Aeroplane Company test flights between 1912 and 1960, so they can be invited to the unveiling ceremony.
Aerospace Bristol has already succeeded in finding the granddaughter of Bill Todd, the radio operator who lost his life in the Downend crash.
Esme Todd said: “I’m so pleased that Aerospace Bristol has chosen to honour my grandfather and the 41 other fallen heroes.
“I never got to meet him, and this keeps their stories alive.”
The Britannia 301 G-ANCA crashed on November 6 1957.
The exact cause of the crash was never determined but was suspected to be a malfunctioning autopilot system.
Despite coming down in a densely-populated area, the aircraft narrowly avoided homes and there were no deaths on the ground.
The crash site was in the wooded area now known as Britannia Woods and behind homes on the south eastern side of Overndale Road.
An identical aeroplane to the one that crashed is in the museum, and the memorial may be unveiled by the aircraft before being moved to a permanent location in the Flightline cafe.
The memorial was the idea of Aerospace Bristol trustee Bill Morgan, a former pilot and aviation engineer who was working at Filton at the time of the crash.
His father, also named Bill, was the plane’s project designer, working with chief designer Archibald Russell.
Bill remembers colleagues at Filton being “dumbfounded” by the crash.
He said: “It was a terrible shock to lose 15 people.
“I knew one of them, John Parry-Jones.”
Bill said that while the names of the 91 employees killed in a deadly German bombing raid on Filton in September 1940 were recorded on a memorial that now stands in nearby St Peter’s Church in Filton, there was no similar memorial in Filton for those who had died on test flights until now.
He said that in the early years of test flights, when aircraft were lighter and slower, many pilots walked away from crashes but as they became larger, accidents became more deadly: 30 of those who will be commemorated on the memorial died between 1948 and 1960.
The names of those who died in the 1957 Downend crash are recorded on a plaque at Lincombe Barn, opposite the crash site, and there is also a memorial in front of Britannia Woods, which was erected by Downend & Bromley Heath Parish Council and Downend History Society, and unveiled on the 50th anniversary of he crash in 2007.
The crash had a lasting effect on those who witnessed it. One of Bill’s colleagues in later years, Peter Coombs, had seen the aircraft go over his school before it went down. He would later become a senior investigator for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
Bill said it was remarkable that no one on the ground was killed.
Those who narrowly escaped included a baby girl, named Caroline Watts, whose family lived in Overndale Road and who was often left outside her back door in her pram.
Bill said: “She was moved by her mother from outside the back door into the house just before, and that may well have saved her life.
“If she’s around it would be really fascinating for her to be there for the unveiling.”
Aerospace Bristol chief executive Sally Cordwell said: “The memorial is a tribute to the extraordinary bravery and dedication of those who helped pave the way for the aviation achievements we all benefit from today.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to our appeal already – and with so many strong leads we’ve already connected with several families – and we are eager to find more.”
The dedication event will be private, but the memorial will be on public display afterwards.
A full list names of the 42 people on the new memorial can be seen online at www.aerospacebristol.org/aviation-heroes
Anyone who may know of, or be connected to, someone who lost their life is being urged to email adam.jones@aerospacebristol.org