Jul 15

Jul 15 Test Pilot Performs Low-Altitude Ejection Moments Before Impact

September 13, 1962

Test pilot George Aird is photographed ejecting from a pre-production English Electric Lightning F1 at incredibly low altitude while on landing approach over Hertfordshire, England. With an engine fire damaging controls, the aircraft suddenly pitches nose up about 10 seconds from touchdown, at an altitude of about 61 meters (200 ft). Getting no response from the controls, Aird ejects moments before the Lightning slams into the airfield.

Photographer Jim Meads captured the surreal image of the tractor and its stunned driver against the backdrop of the falling aircraft. The driver of the tractor, Mick Sutterby, recalled the moment in an email sent in 2011 to John Palmer at The Funny Noise:

"I followed my father into work at de Havilland, Hatfield in 1954 when I was 15. My father was the foreman in charge of the aerodrome and gardens. My job in the summer was gang-mowing the airfield and at the time of the crash in 1962 the grass had stopped growing and we were trimming round the ‘overshoot’ of the runway with a ‘side-mower’.

I stopped to talk to a chap with a camera who was walking up a ditch to the overshoot. I stopped to tell him that he shouldn’t be here, I heard a roar and turned round and he took the picture! He turned out to be a friend of the pilot and had walked up the ditch to photograph his friend in the Lightning. I saw some bits fly off the plane before it crashed but it was the photographer who told me he had ejected.

There was not a big explosion when it crashed, just a loud ‘whhooooof’. I was about 200 yards from the crash scene. I saw men running out of the greenhouses and checking the scene of the crash. The works fire brigade were on the scene within a minute. Somewhere at home I have a picture of it burning. Although the picture shows it nose diving to the ground, in fact it was slowly turning over and it hit the ground upside down nose first.

I was later told that if the pilot had ejected a split second later he would have ejected himself into the ground. I was very lucky. If I had known he was coming into land, I would have been positioned near the ILS (Instrument Landing System) aerial which was only 20 yards or so from the crash site! I believe the photographer had his photo restricted by the Air Ministry for – I think – about 3 months because the plane was secret.

He then took it to the Daily Mail who said it was a fake. The photo was eventually published by the Daily Mirror. From there it went round the world, and I remember seeing a copy in the RAF museum at Hendon. I recollect the photographer usually photographed hunting scenes for magazines like The Field. I recollect that the pilot broke his legs but really was very lucky. I hope this is interesting. All from memory!"