Re. Hampden crash at Broomhill
When the aircraft crashed I was still in the womb therefore cannot claim eye witness!!
My Mother did relate to me that the aircraft suffered damage during operations and was running out of fuel. Whether the pilot missed or aborted landing I don.t know but he was trying to "Cut the corner for an attempt at getting to Acklington". His track took him north flying just over the junior school and Broughs' store. That store is only some 5 hundred yards from the crash site. Had he got a little more height he may have cleared Togston Crescent and may have been able to belly-flop into the fields behind. Sadly that wasn't to be and the aircraft crashed onto the chapel. The cleaning lady, Mrs Kitchen, was in the building at the time. She walked out with not a scratch. She lived for years after on Acklington Road and may have survived to see the rebuilt chapel which re-opened about 1953.
The bravery of the Longstaff brothers is well known.
I surmise that a short cut on the circuit would be because of either/or damage to the controls or fuel shortage.
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