Date:	Monday 23 January 1928
Time:	day
Type:	Blackburn F.1 Turcock
Owner/operator:	Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Co Ltd
Registration:	G-EBVP
MSN:	WO9725
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Destination airport:	Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The Blackburn F.1 Turcock was a British single-seat single-engine biplane fighter built in 1927. Designed to be produced in several variants, only one was completed, as an interceptor fighter, intended to meet Air Ministry specifications F.9/26 (day and night fighter) and N.21/26 (fleet fighter). The first fighter from Blackburn under their new numbering system, it became the F.1; the name Blackcock was applied to the design, but it was intended that each variant, powered by a different engine, should have its own name. Blackburn intended to produce variants with the 446 hp (332 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar VI radial engine, the 585 hp (436 kW) Bristol Mercury radial and the 510 hp (380 kW) Rolls-Royce Kestrel water-cooled inline engine, though in the event, only the Jaguar-powered aircraft was completed.

The F.1 emerged as a clean biplane with swept and staggered single-bay wings of unequal span, the upper wing having both greater span and chord. Apart from the front fuselage, the aircraft was fabric-covered over a steel frame for the fuselage and a mixture of steel spars and duralumin ribs in the wings. The fuselage narrowed to the rear, carrying a braced tailplane and a low, wide-chord fin and rudder with a flat top. Underneath, a faired skid provided more fin area; the rudder also projected beneath the fuselage. The main undercarriage was a standard fixed-axle design. The pilot's open cockpit was at the trailing edge of the wing, where a small cutout enhanced his forward and upward view.

On the only F.1 built, the Jupiter engine was uncowled. The intended armament of two 0.030 in (7.7 mm) machine guns on either side of the fuselage and firing through the two-blade propeller was never fitted.

Blackburn won no Air Ministry orders for the F.1 and indeed no manufacturer received an order under either of the above Ministry contracts, but there was one Jupiter-engined F.1 built for the Turkish government. This aircraft was therefore named the Turcock. It was flown to Turkey for demonstration purposes early in January 1928 under the British registration G-EBVP; it had been registered as such on 6/1/1928 (C of R 1546) to the manufacturers (Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Co Ltd., Olympia, Leeds, West Yorkshire).

Written off (destroyed) 23/1/1928 when wing hit ground on low turn, and the aircraft flew into a tree during speed trials at Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich, Suffolk. Whilst carrying out speed trials on 13/2/1928, Flying Officer Dauncey, passed over the measured mile in one direction, followed at a greater speed in the opposite way, and then followed by a much faster run from the eastern end of the course. Hitting a tree at the western end, the Turcock cartwheeled along the ground, the Pilot and sole occupant - Flying Officer Harold Campbell Gambier Dauncey (aged 21) - was killed instantly. According to the following excerpt from "Flight" magazine (February 9, 1928 page 88 - see link #3)

"Royal Air Force Flying Accidents
As the result of an accident to an experimental machine undergoing trials at Martlesham Heath on January 23, 1928, Flying Officer Harold Campbell Gambier Dauncey, the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft, was killed".

With the fatal loss of G-EBVP, the Blackburn F.1 Blackcock/Turcock project was cancelled; the RAF and Fleet Air Arm were not interested in placing any orders, and the Turkish interest ended with the demise of the sole example.

Registration G-EBVP was cancelled by the Air Ministry on 13/2/1928 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft". Flying Officer Harold Dauncey was an RAF Service pilot with 22 Squadron, RAF, who had been seconded to the A&AEE at Martlesham Heath.

1. Jackson, A.J. (1968). Blackburn Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam Publishing. ISBN 0-370-00053-6.
2. Mason, Francis K., "The British Fighter since 1912", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1992, Library of Congress card number 92-63026, ISBN 1-55750-082-7, p. 196.
3. Martlesham Heath: The Story of the Royal Air Force Station 1917-1973. Kinsey, Gordon. Suffolk:Terence Dalton Ltd.,1975. pages 155 & 232.
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1929.htm
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17344-RAF-fatalities-1928
7. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%200100.html?search=Guy%20Stevinson
8. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/82-register-gb-g-eb
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Turcock
10. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-EBVP.pdf
11. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-E4.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Jun-2018 23:38	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Jun-2018 23:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
16-Jun-2018 23:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport, Narrative]
18-Jun-2018 14:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]