Farnborough 1952 air show crash victims remembered after 69 years

A memorial has been unveiled to commemorate the victims of the UK's worst air show disaster.

Thirty-one people died when a De Havilland jet broke up and fell into the crowd at the Farnborough Air Show in September 1952.

There had previously not been any formal memorial to the civilian victims.

Farnborough resident Mick Foreman who campaigned for the memorial said they "needed to be remembered".

The De Havilland 110 fighter had just broken the sound barrier when it broke up over the air show spectators, showering them with debris.

Among the dead were the pilot John Derry and the flight test observer Anthony Richards. It remains the highest death toll at a British air show.

Mr Foreman was inspired to create a memorial to the victims after witnessing the crash of a vintage Hunter jet at the Shoreham Air Show in 2015, which killed 11 people and injured 16 others.

"After that event there was a memorial raised in a very short time - and rightly so - but it made me think there had never been a memorial to those poor victims who died on a Farnborough airfield in 1952.

"It's so sad they aren't remembered. Those people came to Farnborough on that day for the greatest show on earth for a happy day out - and they didn't go home."

The memorial was unveiled close to the site of the crash at a ceremony attended by family members of the spectators and flight crew killed.

Roger Shanahan who witnessed the crash as a 16-year-old schoolboy recalled the atmosphere after the crash was "rather chilling".

"We were grateful to see one of the engines fly over us. Then we heard a ghastly sigh and the total silence."

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