Dragon Rapide misshap at Duxford today

If the props were still working i guess the engines would be a problem.

The landing looked rather fast to this casual (armchair) viewer.

Video here of incident.   Quite odd to see,  and looked ready to invert but thankfully did not.  Grass might has been a lot less forgiving. Tailwind, binding brakes ??

.Dragon Rapide Accident June 2022 – YouTube

I know, Laurence, I’m slipping. Put it down to old age!

I wonder if one of the Mail’s teenage scribblers took a peek at this forum because its online headline now reads:

‘Passengers are led to safety after 1930s de Havilland Dragon Rapide bi-plane CRASHES at Duxford Air Show after ‘strong gust of wind”

and the subsequent text makes the following grudging admission:

‘IWM Duxford said the aircraft did not nose dive into the ground but tilted forward upon landing and emphasised that no one was injured’

The Mail’s ‘report’ is indicative of the quality of its journalism and suggests that it just prints what it hears without making any effort to evaluate that or find the truth.

But AA you forgot to mention that, according to the same source, perhaps “the front wheel failed”. Oh dear.

Laurence

Daily Mail headline (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10931877/Passengers-escape-1930s-Dragon-Rapide-bi-plane-NOSE-DIVES-ground-Duxford-Air-Show.html):

”Passengers escape’ after 1930s de Havilland Dragon Rapide bi-plane ‘NOSE DIVES’ into the ground at Duxford Air Show’

As usual, that comic can be relied upon to make a story out of next to nothing. The photograph suggests that it nosed over whilst on the ground. The text below the headine suggests either a problem with brakes or a gust lifting the tail. But why should the Mail let the facts get in the way of a good story!