AVIATION experts last night were investigating the crash of a unique
Spitfire which millionaire property magnate Mr Charles Church died.
He was at the controls of his favourite aircraft when it stalled in
mid-air and plunged in flames into a field only a few miles short of an
airport runway on Saturday night.
Mr Church, 44, a father of three, had taken the hand-built aircraft on
a half-hour test run from his private airstrip at Popham, near
Basingstoke, Hampshire.
Mr Church, a farmworker's son, was reputed to have amassed a fortune
of more than #140m. He was listed among the 200 richest men in Britain.
A police spokesman, Inspector Paul Stallard, said that Mr Church had
lodged a flight plan with air traffic controllers saying he was carrying
out a non-stop flight over north Hampshire, circling above Blackbushe
airport at Yateley, and then returning to Popham.
The Spitfire -- described as a ''bastard'' by purists in the vintage
aircraft fraternity -- had been specially built by the property
developer's flying enterprise, Charles Church (Spitfires).
It combined the best parts of all Spitfire models ever produced, but
was not a true version of any of them, said Mr Stallard.
Mr Church, who had two daughters, aged 22 and 19, and a nine-year-old
son, was flying towards Hartley Wintney when the aircraft developed an
engine problem.
He put out two Mayday calls, requesting permission for an emergency
landing at Blackbushe, but crashed into a field several miles short of
the airstrip.
As the second Mayday call went out, Police Constable Philip Smith, who
was on duty in Hartley Wintney, saw a pall of smoke and raised the
alarm.
Emergency services found the Spitfire in a ball of flame, with Mr
Church's body trapped inside, said Mr Stallard. Civil Aviation Authority
investigators later visited the scene.
The Spitfire, one of a number owned by Mr Church and kept in a
collection at Popham, had been used in an air display at RAF Dunsfold,
Surrey, earlier on Saturday, flown by another pilot.
When it returned to Popham, Mr Church told his wife, Susie, that he
was taking it out himself.
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