Date:	Saturday 28 January 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Miles M.11A Whitney Straight
Owner/operator:	Reading Aero Club
Registration:	G-AEVH
MSN:	321
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Pilot Hill, Ashmansworth, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Woodley Aerodrome, near Reading, Berkshire
Destination airport:	Yeovil Aerodrome, Yeovil, Somerset (EGHG)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
First registered [C of R 7719] on 2.3.37 as G-AEVH to Captain A.V. Harvey, Woodley Aerodrome, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire. C of A 5813 issued March 1937. Sold on and re-registered [C of R 8485] on 4.5.38 to the Reading Aero Club Ltd., Woodley Aerodrome, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire.

Written off (destroyed) 28.1.39: Crashed in bad visibility into the 268-metre (938 foot) Pilot Hill, near Ashmansworth, Hampshire. The hill is about 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Newbury on the Hampshire/Berkshire border and is part of the north-facing scarp of the North Hampshire Downs. According to a contemporary newspaper report (Western Daily Press - Monday 30 January 1939)

"'PLANE CRASH AFTER VISIT TO YEOVIL DANCE
Two Men Dead on Remote Hillside

Two men, George Richard Hobbs (26), of Kingston, Yeovil, and Claude Morris, of Thornby Road, Osterley Park, Middlesex, were killed when a 'plane in which they were flying crashed at Pilot Hill, Ashmansworth, near the Hants-Berks border, on Saturday.

Mr Hobbs, the pilot, was an electrical and wireless expert employed at an aircraft factory in Reading. He had several years flying experience, and held an "A" licence.

Accompanied by Mr Morris, he flew to Yeovil on Friday evening, and together they attended an aircraft company's staff dance at Yeovil. They left again by 'plane early on Saturday morning, and were intending to return to Yeovil later in the day to spend the week-end with Mr Hobbs's parents.

No one appears to have seen the 'plane crash, but about noon it was reported to the police at Kingsclere that what appeared to be a wrecked 'plane was at Pilot Hill.

Claude Morris was also 26, and was an assistant ship's purser. He began a week's leave on Friday, and was due to sail on Friday next in the P. and O. boat Cathay. He was single."

Registration G-AEVH cancelled by the Air Ministry on 29.3.39 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft"

1. Western Daily Press - Monday 30 January 1939
2. Belfast News-Letter - Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland Monday 30 January 1939
3. Gloucester Citizen - Wednesday 1 February 1939
4. Northern Whig - Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland. 2 February 1939
5. Hampshire Telegraph - Friday 03 February 1939
6. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
7. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AEVH.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A9.html
9. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
10. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_Hill

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Feb-2018 23:36	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Mar-2020 17:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport, Source, Narrative]