§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSasked the Secretary of State for Air whether his attention has been called to the death of a Royal Air Force pilot at Hawkinge on the 25th instant; and whether the aeroplane which crashed was fitted with a parachute?
Captain GUESTI am aware of the circumstances of the accident to which my hon. Friend refers, so far as they have been revealed up to the present. The aeroplane, which was of a fighting type known as the Snipe, is normally used as a single-seater, but was, in this ease, one of those adapted as a dual control aeroplane for instructional purposes, thereby further reducing the surplus space available. The aeroplane was not fitted with parachutes, and no satisfactory type of parachute has been evolved1276W for this small high-speed type of aeroplane, although considerable progress is being made. I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to his question of the 17th May, in which I informed him that no fighting aeroplanes are, at present, fitted with parachutes, and would add for his information that, as a result of the service trials referred to therein, parachutes for Avro aeroplanes are now being modified.