The August 1923 Air Union Farman Goliath crash occurred on 27 August 1923 when a Farman F.60 Goliath of

Air Union Air Union was a French airline established January 1, 1923, as the result of a merger between the airlines ''Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes'' and '' Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens''. Air Union was merged with four other French airli ...

crashed at

East Malling East Malling is a village in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent, in the part of the civil parish of East Malling and Larkfield lying south of the A20 road. In 2019 the ward had an estimated population of 5478. History The earliest rec ...

, Kent, United Kingdom following an engine failure and reported panic amongst the passengers. One person was killed and nine were injured.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was Farman F.60 Goliath F-AECB, c/n 4. The aircraft had entered service in April 1922 with

Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes ''Compagnie des messageries aériennes'' was a pioneering French airline which was in operation from 1919–23, when it was merged with Grands Express Aériens to form Air Union. History Compagnie des messageries aériennes was established Februa ...

, passing to Air Union in January 1923.

Flight

The aircraft was operating a scheduled international flight from Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France to Croydon Airport, Surrey, United Kingdom, via

Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situa ...

, Pas-de-Calais, France. The aircraft departed from Le Bourget at about 12:30

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(11:30

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

) with two crew and eight passengers on board. A scheduled stop was made at Berck, where another three passengers boarded. Due to weather conditions, a precautionary landing was made at

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...

, Kent, where a leak in the port radiator was attended to by the mechanic.

Accident

After a delay in excess of half an hour, the aircraft departed from Lympne for Croydon. About 45 minutes after take-off from Lympne, as the aircraft flew over

East Farleigh East Farleigh is a village and civil parish in the local government district of Maidstone, Kent, England. The village is located on the south side of the River Medway about two miles (3.2 km) upstream from the town of Maidstone. Heritage The ...

, the starboard engine failed. The aircraft was then flying at about at an altitude of just under . The pilot altered course, intending to land at either Marden or

Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, within the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The village is situ ...

. As the Farman Goliath was incapable of maintaining level flight with only one engine operating, the pilot decided to make an emergency landing. He asked the mechanic to ask ''two'' passengers to move towards the rear of the aircraft. This instruction was apparently misunderstood by the passengers, as ''four'' of them moved towards the rear of the aircraft. This affected the centre of gravity of the aircraft, which then entered into a spin. It crashed at

at about 17:30

, but there was no fire. The aircraft was written off in the accident. (photographs) Villagers went to the assistance of the victims, and extricated them from the wreckage. One passenger was killed. Six people were taken to the

West Kent Hospital West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

for treatment. Two ambulances from Maidstone Ambulance Brigade attended. Three less seriously injured people were treated at a house in East Malling. An inquest opened on 30 August at the Ship Inn, East Malling. A survivor of the accident denied that there had been any panic amongst the passengers following the failure of the starboard engine, and that the moving of ''four'' passengers from the front cabin to the rear of the aircraft was on the instructions of the mechanic. The inquest was adjourned until 11 September to allow other victims to recover sufficiently to be able to give evidence. At the resumed inquest, the pilot gave evidence. The Coroner decided that nothing was to be gained from delaying the inquest further, and the jury returned a verdict of "accidental death" on the victim.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom Aviation accidents and incidents in 1923 Aviation accidents and incidents in Kent 1923 in England Tonbridge and Malling 1923 disasters in the United Kingdom Airliner accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom