Pilot killed on last flight before Christmas
Title
Pilot killed on last flight before Christmas
Description
Describes crash of HS-125 in which Harold Dryhurst was killed.
Date
1967-12-29
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Coverage
Language
Type
Format
One newspaper cutting
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SDryhurstHG1332214v10005
Transcription
HERTS & ESSEX OBSERVER
INCORPORATING SAFFRON WALDEN AND DISTRICT OBSERVER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1967
PILOT KILLED ON ‘LAST FLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS’
[Photograph]
The wreckage of the aircraft embedded in the factory roof.
A BISHOP’S STORTFORD pilot on his last flight before the Christmas holidays died on Saturday when an executive jet he was in crashed into the Luton factory of Vauxhall Motors Ltd., and caught fire. He was 44-year-old ex-bomber pilot Captain Harry Dryhurst, of Linkside Road, a married man with three daughters. One daughter is married and the others are aged 17 and 11.
Together with First Officer D.W. Boothman, aged 29, of Silsoe, Bedfordshire, who was also killed, Captain Dryhurst was flying in a Hawker Siddeley 125 jet owned by Beecham Chemicals and operated by Autair Airways, of Luton Airport.
They had been doing a series of circuits and landings on a training flight from the airport. The training involved making a take-off on one engine.
An Autair spokesman said: “Both men were experienced pilots and Captain Dryhurst was the most experienced we had on the 125. They had carried out a number of successful circuit and bump flights.” Captain Dryhurst was working as senior pilot on H.S. 125 aircraft with Autair.
The plane is thought to have hit some high tension cables before crashing into the roof of
[Photograph]
CAPT. HARRY DRYHURST
Former bomber pilot
“E” block of Vauxhalls, where truck cabs are made. The tail section of the aircraft was jammed in the roof.
Two maintenance men were in the building at the time, but were not hurt.
TRANSFER
First Officer Boothman was training for transfer to the H.S. 125. They had been flying for about two hours, making landings and take-offs, before the crash.
The Autair spokesman said: “It might have been an engine failure, but we just do not know yet.”
“It hit some high tension cables on the way down and there was a hell of an explosion and then the crash.”
A team of 165 people worked throughout the Christmas holidays to clear the damage and make repairs, and normal production was resumed at Vauxhall’s on Wednesday.
Captain Dryhurst started his flying career with Bomber Command in 1941, and the following year was shot down over Germany and was a prisoner of war until 1945.
NEW JOB
After the war he stayed in the Royal Air Force and served as an instructor at the Central Flying School. In 1952, he moved to British European Airways and four years later took up a new job abroad with British West Indian Airways.
It was seven years ago that he and his family returned to this country and he moved to the Civil Aviation Flying Unit, at Stansted Airport, whose pilots are considered to be the cream of civil aviation airmen.
In January this year he left C.A.F.U. and joined Austair Airways at Luton.
His wife, Mrs. Kathleen Dryhurst , said this week: “ The training at Luton was to have been his last flight before the Christmas holidays”
Cremation is due to take place at Parndon Wood Crematorium tomorrow (Saturday).
Board of Trade accident investigation officers later visited the site and recovered the “black box” flight recording instrument.
INCORPORATING SAFFRON WALDEN AND DISTRICT OBSERVER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1967
PILOT KILLED ON ‘LAST FLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS’
[Photograph]
The wreckage of the aircraft embedded in the factory roof.
A BISHOP’S STORTFORD pilot on his last flight before the Christmas holidays died on Saturday when an executive jet he was in crashed into the Luton factory of Vauxhall Motors Ltd., and caught fire. He was 44-year-old ex-bomber pilot Captain Harry Dryhurst, of Linkside Road, a married man with three daughters. One daughter is married and the others are aged 17 and 11.
Together with First Officer D.W. Boothman, aged 29, of Silsoe, Bedfordshire, who was also killed, Captain Dryhurst was flying in a Hawker Siddeley 125 jet owned by Beecham Chemicals and operated by Autair Airways, of Luton Airport.
They had been doing a series of circuits and landings on a training flight from the airport. The training involved making a take-off on one engine.
An Autair spokesman said: “Both men were experienced pilots and Captain Dryhurst was the most experienced we had on the 125. They had carried out a number of successful circuit and bump flights.” Captain Dryhurst was working as senior pilot on H.S. 125 aircraft with Autair.
The plane is thought to have hit some high tension cables before crashing into the roof of
[Photograph]
CAPT. HARRY DRYHURST
Former bomber pilot
“E” block of Vauxhalls, where truck cabs are made. The tail section of the aircraft was jammed in the roof.
Two maintenance men were in the building at the time, but were not hurt.
TRANSFER
First Officer Boothman was training for transfer to the H.S. 125. They had been flying for about two hours, making landings and take-offs, before the crash.
The Autair spokesman said: “It might have been an engine failure, but we just do not know yet.”
“It hit some high tension cables on the way down and there was a hell of an explosion and then the crash.”
A team of 165 people worked throughout the Christmas holidays to clear the damage and make repairs, and normal production was resumed at Vauxhall’s on Wednesday.
Captain Dryhurst started his flying career with Bomber Command in 1941, and the following year was shot down over Germany and was a prisoner of war until 1945.
NEW JOB
After the war he stayed in the Royal Air Force and served as an instructor at the Central Flying School. In 1952, he moved to British European Airways and four years later took up a new job abroad with British West Indian Airways.
It was seven years ago that he and his family returned to this country and he moved to the Civil Aviation Flying Unit, at Stansted Airport, whose pilots are considered to be the cream of civil aviation airmen.
In January this year he left C.A.F.U. and joined Austair Airways at Luton.
His wife, Mrs. Kathleen Dryhurst , said this week: “ The training at Luton was to have been his last flight before the Christmas holidays”
Cremation is due to take place at Parndon Wood Crematorium tomorrow (Saturday).
Board of Trade accident investigation officers later visited the site and recovered the “black box” flight recording instrument.
Collection
Citation
“Pilot killed on last flight before Christmas,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/28674.
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