Stories from 47 Regt days . . . |
While at Crookham with R Sigs I got to know a Dave Ross. Does anyone from 47
regt remember anything about the RTA in which Dave was killed? I think it
was somewhere in the Crookham area.
I read one of the stories which mentioned a Bdr Hargreaves, was this the Bdr
Hargreaves who was a signaller with 3 Bty? On exercise we drove around in an
Austin Champ to the other signallers to sort out(hopefully) their radio
problems.
Thanks
Mike Ireson
Mike Powell
February, 2008
In 1958 there was a fatal accident involving an Austin Champ on the A287 road
that leads down into Farnham. ( 51deg13'17.48N 0deg48'05.40W )
After a speed encouraging downhill slope there was a sharp right hand bend
which had a pretty unfavourable camber. The outside of the curve dropped
away quite steeply so there was little hope of recovery if a vehicle entered
it too fast.
The Champ with it's heavy radio installation was unstable under favourable
circumstances - driven too fast into that corner it would have had little chance.
Two were killed. The recovered Champ was brought back to the workshop. Nothing
remained above the level of the bonnet.
I was teaching driving at that time and used that road regularly
(with my hand firmly on the handbrake) and I recall that the skid marks
and gouges in the verge were plainly visible for many weeks afterwards.
The bend layout has been improved over the years but it still invites problems
because on the long downhill run that leads to it.