Sandown Gypsy Moth crash - August 1939

Adam Michael Karolyi, working for the Isle of Wight Flying Club, was killed when a Gypsy Moth aircraft he was flying crashed shortly after take-off from Lea (Sandown) Airport on 21 August 1939.

Adam Michael Karolyi, a Hungarian Count, was giving an instruction flight for a visitor at Sandown Airport when the joystick came away from its socket and, losing control, the aircraft crashed and Karolyi died the following day from the burns he received.

At the inquest it was explained that the joystick in the front cockpit of a Gypsy Moth was held in its socket by pins, and often, when being flown solo with the pilot in the rear cockpit, the front joystick would be removed.

However this particular day, Karolyi, an instructor with the club, was giving a visitor an instructional flight and had taken off and completed one circuit. Shortly after taking off for a second time, the aircraft was seen to nosedive into the ground and burst into flames.

When rescuers arrived at the scene, Karolyi was found to have been thrown from the wreck and was  found badly burnt in a ditch, he was taken to the Scio Hospital in Shanklin where he died the following day. The visitor was recovered from the wreckage suffering from cuts and shock.

Karolyi reported that shortly after the second take off, the joystick had come away from its socket and he lost control of the aircraft. The inquest was unable to explain why this had happened, the pins were not found in the wreckage or workshop.

The funeral Mass for Count Adam Michael Karolyi was celebrated at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Shanklin and interment followed at Chale churchyard.

In February/March 1962 the remains of Count Adam Michael Karolyi and, his father, Count Michael Karolyi, were exhumed from Chale churchyard and taken to Hungary. The newspaper report identified Count Michael Karolyi as the first president of the Hungarian People’s Republic who had spent 26 years in exile.