George Lancelot Gipps
Early aviator
1914. REPORT ON THE FATAL ACCIDENT TO MR. GEORGE LANCELOT GIPPS, WHEN FLYING AS A PASSENGER WITH MR. FREDERICK WARREN MERRIAM AT LARKHILL, SALISBURY PLAIN, ON MONDAY, JANUARY 26TH, 1914, AT ABOUT 4.45 P.M. [1]
Brief Description of the Accident.— Mr. Frederick Warren Merriam was flying a Bristol monoplane fitted with a 50 h. p. Gnome engine at Larkhill, Salisbury Plain, on Monday, January 26th, 1914, at about 4.45 p.m., with Mr. George Lancelot Gipps as a passenger for an instructional flight. The flight had lasted about five minutes, during which time a circuit had been made at a height of about 80 ft. In making a noticeably flat left-hand turn, the aircraft suddenly banked steeply and, making a quarter-turn, nose dived to the ground from a height of about 50 ft. The pilot, Mr. Merriam, was injured, but the passenger, Mr. Gipps, was killed. Mt. George Lancelot Gipps was granted his Aviator's Certificate No. 513, on June 13th, 1913, by the Royal Aero Club.
Opinion.— The Committee is of opinion that the accident was due primarily to ruddering violently when the aircraft was unbanked, causing it to sideslip outwards, lose way and nose dive. The overruddering was due to the action of the passenger in first resisting the control of the pilot and then suddenly yielding.