I rember seeing a Wyvern dive headlong into the ground at Langrish, Petersfield in Hampshire in the early 1950’s. I was standing on a railway bridge at Petersfield on a sunny day watching three aircraft dog fighting at about 5/7 thousand feet. If my memory serves me right, there were two Vampires (possibly from RAF Odiham) chasing the Wyvern. They were rolling and tailchasing for a few minutes and the Wyvern went into a steep climb, rolled off the top, and dove down after one of the other aircraft. The noise was quite incredible as the Wyvern came lower and lower and then it disappeared behind a small hill. I heard the whoomff as it hit the ground, and saw a pall of black smoke rising skywards. The other aircraft seemed to depart very quickly and then the local siren sounded, calling our fire service crew to go into action.
The Wyvern pilot was an American on exchange posting.
Reminds me of a story I read in the local rag when I lived at Yeovil.
I seem to remember that a Wyvern crashed on approach to Westlands’ airfield, killing the pilot and several people on the ground, including a young girl riding a tricycle 🙁
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