19/08/2025
(18 August)
Although not directly connected to Manston, an interesting and lucky local incident.
Flight Officer Malcolm “Doc” Hughes, piloted an F-5A-10 42-13099 (P-38 Lightning) of the 22nd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, on a short hop across the Channel to Lille, France from their base near Oxford. Climbing to 35,000 feet in 10/10ths cloud cover, hailstones suddenly pounded his windscreen.
Without warning – and without moving the yoke – his P-38 shuddered and climbed to 40,000 feet and went out of control. Checking behind, Hughes saw his tail assembly was gone. Hughes attempted a bailout but was pinned in by centrifugal forces. The aircraft stabilised for a moment. The airspeed indicator read 450 knots; altitude – 25,000 feet.
Hughes rolled down the window, using the rearview mirror for leverage, and pulled himself from the cockpit and exited the aircraft. Upon exiting the aircraft the airstream ripped off his mask and Hughes felt “a stinging sensation about my face and thought it was the wind.”
Hughes broke through the cloud layer at around 5,000 feet and landed on the coast of England. Subsequent examination of the wreckage indicated a broken trim tab control rod that allowed elevator flutter, which precipitated the break-up of the aircraft. The aircraft crashed at Monkton Court Farm (recorded as ‘near Manston Airfield’) and was destroyed.
Photo: F/O Malcolm 'Doc' Hughes injuries from hailstones during a bailout at an altitude of 25,000 feet, without goggles. Photo from American Air Museum in Britain, under Creative Commons licence.
