Hurricane LF363 – 25 years on from disaster

September 2016 is the 25th anniversary of the accident that befell BBMF Hurricane LF363 in 1991, the most serious accident in the Flight’s long history.

On 11th September 1991 Hurricane LF363 was en route to Jersey from Coningsby, in company with the Lancaster and a Spitfire, when in the vicinity of Wittering its engine suffered a camshaft failure. There was a loud bang, it started to run very rough, with smoke pouring from the exhausts. The pilot, Squadron Leader Allan Martin, attempted to force land the aircraft at RAF Wittering where emergency assistance would be available. Unfortunately, the engine failed completely at a late stage of the approach; the Hurricane stalled and crashed onto the airfield with the undercarriage still retracted. It slid backwards down the runway and, as it came to a halt, it was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, the cockpit escape door had fallen off in the impact and the pilot was able to scramble out and, in his own words, “leg it”. He was fortunate to escape with a broken ankle and minor burns.

The damage to LF363 was severe, as the photographs taken at the time show, with the airframe and wings significantly damaged and the engine ripped out of the nose. There is little doubt that in wartime an aircraft damaged to this extent would have been written off.

The wreck of LF363 was moved back to Coningsby. It sat in a corner of the BBMF hangar looking very sad for three years, whilst its future was discussed at high level. Eventually, it was decided that, with airworthy Hurricanes being so rare, LF363 would be re-built, but the Flight had to sell one of its Spitfires (PR Mk XIX PS853, now operated by Rolls-Royce) to offset the costs of the re-build.

In 1994 the remains of Hurricane LF363 were moved to Historic Flying Ltd at Audley End, Essex, where a painstaking re-build was carried out over the next four years to bring the aircraft back to life and make it airworthy again. On 29th September 1998, Hurricane LF363 flew again for the first time in seven years in the capable hands of the then OC BBMF, Squadron Leader Paul ‘Major’ Day OBE AFC, with Al Martin present to witness the momentous event. LF363 subsequently re-joined the Flight and continues to serve, 25 years after it was nearly destroyed.