Red Arrows Brighton Crash

[Exmouth Seagull]

Theres a documentary on about the Red Arrows on BBC HD at the moment. Sky 145. It has reminded me of something.

I am sure that as a boy, in the mid to late seventies, I can remember going to Brighton to watch a Red Arrows display over Brighton Beach, when to the shock of everybody watching, one of them crashed into the sea, very close to the Place Pier. I think the pilot ejected just in time and was OK.

Cant find anything on the net though. Is my imagination playing tricks on me , or did it actually happen ?? Can anybody else remember. If so, was the plane retreived, or is it still under there somewhere?

 

[jakes right boot]

http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/red_arrows_personal.htm

 

[Trigger]

Rememeber it myself...

 

[Dave the OAP]

ditto

 

[Knightsworld]

I was playing at the Pitch & Putt when i heard the crash.

 

[Exmouth Seagull]

http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/red_arrows_personal.htm

Cheers, there must be more info than that somewhere. The Red Arrows dont crash too often in front of massive crowds as far as I know! It must have been quite a big news story at the time, and surely video of the crash exists somewhere.

 

[The Auditor]

1979/80 ish I believe ..I was living in Brighton at the time....same time Athena B was washed up by the pier

 

[Beach Hut]

 

[Tory Boy]

Remember it well, the plane went one side of the pier, the pilot the other.

TB

 

[smudge]

I was there, very impressive trick!

 

[Deleted User X18H]

my dad took a photo of the plane hitting the mast of the yacht
he sent it to the pilot Steve Johnson who was delighted it showed he was not a fault he sent us much Red Arrows merchendise. I was their between the piers with my parents the funny thing was every one on the beach clapped when they saw the parachute followed by an eerie silence when the plane crashed into the sea opposite paston place.

 

[NMH]

Just missed a VERY crowded Palace Pier, and the bloke ejected barely in time before he too might have hit the pier pylons. Big splash though!

Cost about 2 mil each, I heard, but at least no-one got killed.

 

[The Large One]

Spring/Summer 1980 it was.

I remember this because it was the day one of my cousins got married, and my dad convinced this very gullible 10-year-old that her dad (my uncle - a former Albion player BTW) had paid for the Red Arrows to perform for her ceremony that day.

Anyhoo, I remember the boom echoing across the town (I lived near Preston Circus then) but thought nothing of it. It was only when I heard it on the news later that I put two and two together.

 

[desprateseagull]

did the yacht owner get in trouble, apart from a broken mast (and maybe chnage of pants).

at least any insurance claim would have been well documented (witnesses!)

 

[BUTTERBALL]

My mum had taken us down to watch the display and we saw it crash. Everyone was stunned.

 

[NMH]

did the yacht owner get in trouble, apart from a broken mast (and maybe chnage of pants).

at least any insurance claim would have been well documented (witnesses!)

The concept that the yacht owner might be in trouble? Well he/she might have had to use their engine to get back home. Other than that, they had just as much right to be where they were as anyone, and the one in trouble for endangering lives would more-likely have been the pilot of the Red Arrow, or his squadron leader.

What it did show, was the incredible fine limits the pilot was operating under - to be THAT close to the water after a high loop! Also, that there might always be something that disrupts those limits, an unforseeable circumstance, of total coincidence, that might spell death for the pilot and/or many innocent bystanders. The aircraft missed the packed Palace Pier by about 40 or 50 feet, after flipping over and rising slightly. A small degree of change in that trajectory, a split second difference in timing, a slight few feet in the original manouvre - and it could've been light-out for hundreds!