29th November 1975
#1
Posted 27 November 2002 - 20:19
Spare a thought also, for Tony Brise and the rest of the team on board the aircraft.
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#2
Posted 27 November 2002 - 21:49
#3
Posted 27 November 2002 - 22:15
I'd been working that day and was suffering from some sort of viral infection - a few years later they'd have called it ME - and had gone to bed early, probably well before 10, so the first I knew was the following morning when my mother came into my room with a cup of coffee and said "I've got some very bad news for you ...."
A dreadful day
Graham was my first motor racing hero.
Mine too
RIP Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Andy Smallman, Terry Richards, Ray Brimble and Tony Alcock.
#4
Posted 27 November 2002 - 22:40
Hearing that - and knowing that the teams had been testing at Ricard-Castellet - and that Graham flew from Elstree and would ALWAYS try to get back in there no matter what - I felt acutely uncomfortable and screwed-up and said to my wife "Oh no - that's Graham Hill. I bet that's Graham..."
And sadly it was....
Almost simultaneously, 'Road & Track' published a story on Graham's retirement by Rob Walker It was already in production I seem to recall at the time of the crash, and it was too late to change a word of it. If I remember rightly, in his story Rob wrote of Graham landing somewhere - I think at Southend (again from memory) - in complete clag, the thickest of thick fogs "...and he was the only pilot to get in there all day...".
Which was half the problem...
Poor Graham, and even poorer the lads who were flying back, so despondently, with him - for the new GH car had just proved to be very poor, Graham was wound-up tighter than a nine-day watch, ratty as hell, and his young designer Andy 'Pencil' Smallman must have been particularly stressed, dismayed and disappointed.... The atmosphere within that aircraft must have been thick enough to cut with a knife - even before that fatal approach.
And then in zero visibility Graham just kept boring in - and they hit the grasping branches of that tree...
DCN
#5
Posted 27 November 2002 - 22:55
for the new GH car had just proved to be very poor
This is the first time I have EVER heard this!
Do you have any details, Doug?
I had been out on that Saturday night and never learned the sad news until I opened the Sunday paper. One of those moments that leave an awful, empty space somewhere in your stomach.
#6
Posted 27 November 2002 - 23:09
The circumstances of the accident were a distillate of the man's character. He was a clever man, a professional, a charmer but also a risk-taker and, at times, bloody minded to an unusual degree. That Tony Brise and a talented team of engineers shared his fate added to the bitterness. So many times I had witnessed Brise's metronomic brilliance in the Modus, now this whole wonderful dream had literally exploded.
Damon provided the wonderful post script but his dad will always provide me with the fondest memories of F1 as it should be.
#7
Posted 28 November 2002 - 00:03
Originally posted by Doug Nye
... the new GH car had just proved to be very poor ....
DCN
I knew there had been some problems with it - you were a little less harsh in the Autocourse history though, Doug:
It reputedly had many problems ... some weeks of hard work to put it all right .....
and David Hodges said it was
apparently found wanting in several respects
Is "very poor" perhaps overstating the case a bit? Or am I clutching at straws?
#8
Posted 28 November 2002 - 09:42
A very personable man, ready to discuss his cars with anyone at any time, totally dedicated to his work.
I wonder what he could have achieved had this not happened?
#9
Posted 28 November 2002 - 13:01
Originally posted by Vitesse2
Thanks Barry. Like Gary said, it doesn't seem like twenty-seven years. (Just a small correction though - it was a Saturday, not a Sunday).
It was the Saturday night, I guess most of us heard it on the Sunday morning - I remember hearing it on the radio news.
RIP Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Andy Smallman, Terry Richards, Ray Brimble and Tony Alcock.
pete
#10
Posted 28 November 2002 - 13:55
My thoughts are with Bette and Damon Hill and the families of all the victims today.
#11
Posted 28 November 2002 - 17:51
If I recall rightly the inquiry found that the root cause of the catastrophe was probably what is almost the simplest of distraction errors - Graham had left his aircraft's altimeter set to display QNH - altitude above sea level - instead of QFE - local altitude above ground. Elstree Aerodrome lies notionally at 354 feet above sea level, I believe, and at the point of impact one might expect an aircraft on approach to the aerodrome to be around that height above local ground...but absolutely not sea... level - and he hit the upper branches of the tree which commenced the break-up of the aircraft.
Richard (Vitesse) - you write as if you are a particular fan of the Hill GH cars??? No reason why you shouldn't be, but I feel on reflection the emphasis I applied (while casually clattering down the line about the new car's testing performance) is about right...
All racers want their latest to be right straight out of the box. A 10-item major job list would be pretty darned good - 25 items a severe disappointment - 50-75 (which I believe was the new Hill car's at minimum) pretty much a racing disaster...
DCN
#12
Posted 29 November 2002 - 12:43
#13
Posted 29 November 2002 - 13:12
Originally posted by ian senior
Perhaps I didn't really want to be reminded of this anniversary. I have to say that my love affair with motor racing started to wane form that day forward. Graham was my first hero in the sport and things were just never quite the same after that. To me, he WAS Mr Motor Racing.
Amen.
A few months ago, I did an article for 8W on Graham, which awakened a lot of old memories and feelings and that "awful, empty space somewhere in your stomach". It was very difficult to find the right words to close it:
Graham Hill seemed to be the ultimate survivor – he had made it through a period in which many great and not-so-great drivers had lost their lives to the sport and come out comparatively unscathed – and British enthusiasts were looking forward to 1976 when it seemed that his team, led by the rapidly-improving Tony Brise, might be challenging for victories, but all that changed on the foggy night of November 29th 1975. I can still remember the terrible empty feeling I had when I heard that Graham Hill’s plane had crashed on Arkley golf course after apparently mistaking its lights for those of Elstree airfield. He had come down in some trees and Graham and all his passengers were killed instantly – the heart and soul was ripped out of the Embassy-Hill team as the owner, driver and designer all perished, along with three mechanics – Terry Richards, Ray Brimble and Tony Alcock.
A few days before he died, Graham had been guest of honour at a dinner of the prestigious National Sporting Club in London to celebrate his life and career. It is somehow fitting that this is the last event recorded in his second autobiography, which was meant to end with this sentence:
While I had been a racing driver I had often said to audiences during speeches and talks: ‘You know the risks, you accept them. If a man can’t look at danger and still go on, man has stopped living. If the worst ever happens – then it means simply that I’ve been asked to pay the bill for the happiness of my life – without a moment’s regret.’
Sadly, that was not the last word and it was left to his widow Bette to write a postscript to the book, which even today I cannot read without being moved to tears. In it, she quotes the Bishop of St Albans at Graham’s funeral service:
‘Graham brought happiness to millions. Whether you knew him from a distance, or close to, he was for real’.
#14
Posted 29 November 2002 - 13:25
#15
Posted 29 November 2002 - 13:37
My thoughts are with Bette and Damon Hill and the families of all the victims today.
I echo these thoughts.
Graham's autobiography 'Life at the Limit' is one of the best books I've read as it really showed how he struggled to get started in racing and become 'Mr Monaco'. A great inspiration even if I was too young to see him race at his peak.
#16
Posted 29 November 2002 - 13:46
was too tired and he would fly back in the morning.
What a mixture of feelings he must be having this time of year.
#17
Posted 29 November 2002 - 14:29
#18
Posted 30 November 2002 - 02:09
It was Monday morning's paper.
I still remember a piece from AP wire that listed "the many racing drivers that died in crashes on the track" and included Graham Hill
I imagine Ted Wentz feels much the same as Waylon Jennings did about giving up his seat on the ill fated plane flight that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were on, and the way many who missed, cancelled or were bumped from planes that ultimately crashed feel.
Jim Thurman
#19
Posted 30 November 2002 - 02:16
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#20
Posted 30 November 2002 - 04:56
#21
Posted 30 November 2002 - 06:56
Doug, If what you state is correct about his failure to set the altimeter - then it is a case of pilot error and a grievous one at that. I've read various reports, including his getting lost & dioriented. An elementary and routine function is to continue to set one's altimeter. Especially prior to a landing approach and moreover, in IFR conditions... Alas, no FMS equipment existed in those days to remind the pilot should he forget.
I understand that Jennings fate was decided by a coin toss with The Big Bopper...Originally posted by Jim Thurman
"....I imagine Ted Wentz feels much the same as Waylon Jennings did about giving up his seat on the ill fated plane flight that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were on, and the way many who missed, cancelled or were bumped from planes that ultimately crashed feel...."
#22
Posted 30 November 2002 - 10:20
The fact that the team 'plane was a humble Aztec shows how "poor" F1 teams were in those days compared to todays executive jet outfits.
#23
Posted 28 November 2005 - 22:52
November 29th and April 7th are two dates I dread.
Once more: RIP Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Andy Smallman, Terry Richards, Ray Brimble and Tony Alcock. Thanks for the memories.
At least the GH2 still lives and is finally up and running.
#24
Posted 28 November 2005 - 23:04
November 1975 was a dark time for me. I'd just returned to Oz after 6 difficult months in the UK and hearing of the tragedy hit hard. It still does. Thoughts to Bette, Damon, Brigitte and Samantha.
#25
Posted 28 November 2005 - 23:53
#26
Posted 29 November 2005 - 01:20
In all respect,
Jacques N. Dresang
#27
Posted 29 November 2006 - 19:55
#28
Posted 29 November 2006 - 20:17
Definitely one of the most photogenic drivers of any era; the likes of Goddard and Cooper seemed to capture his personality very well.
Justin
#29
Posted 29 November 2006 - 20:43
#30
Posted 29 November 2006 - 20:54
#31
Posted 29 November 2006 - 23:40
#32
Posted 30 November 2006 - 00:31
#33
Posted 30 November 2006 - 00:45
They are always in our thoughts.
#35
Posted 30 November 2006 - 08:54
#36
Posted 30 November 2006 - 12:30
Weather at take-off is really immaterial, since it was a four hour flight across the prevailing wind. Graham stopped to refuel at Marseilles, where he checked the met reports, but he was still three hours from Elstree. Elstree had no qualified met observers, so Graham had to rely on third party reports from London Air Traffic Control, whose info would have come from the Met Office at Heathrow (and/or perhaps London Weather Centre).
Cutting a long story short, it appears that Graham's altimeter settings were wrong, leading him to think he was actually higher than he was when he descended into the fog. Had he acceded to the suggestion that he divert to Luton, which was fog-free, that error would have been obvious. But he didn't ....
#37
Posted 30 November 2006 - 19:15
#38
Posted 01 December 2006 - 02:40
Yes, thanks once again for all the great memories, RIP to all , the late Tony Alcock was the designer several years before for Birrana Cars of Adelaide Australia...........................Originally posted by Vitesse2
Thirty years.
November 29th and April 7th are two dates I dread.
Once more: RIP Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Andy Smallman, Terry Richards, Ray Brimble and Tony Alcock. Thanks for the memories.
At least the GH2 still lives and is finally up and running.
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#40
Posted 06 December 2006 - 12:51
GH had that look about him. A sort of chiselled image of what a driver should look like. Both on and off the track, had a stance that one could only percieve as a true gentleman, thoughtful yet calculative.
One of the true greats and always fondly thought of.
Here is my favourite picture of him from the 1971 GP. Copyright belongs to D.P.P.I
#41
Posted 06 December 2006 - 13:57
Originally posted by Barry Boor
I have just sent The Administrator a message with a new URL for the photo in the first post of this thread, as I cannot edit the message myself.
I've only just read this thread in its entirety, and thus your posts Barry.Originally posted by Barry Boor
Seeing that my request to the Administrator seems not to have had the desired effect...
Having now checked my email folders, I can assure you I didn't receive any form of message from you!
Anyway, it's now sorted.
#42
Posted 07 December 2006 - 02:22
Ray, a lot of us wonder what Tony might have achieved , Cheers P.N.Originally posted by Ray Bell
There were many Australian motor racing people at Phillip Island that weekend... I know I was among them... it certainly did hit home, especially for those of us who had also known Tony Alcock so well.
A very personable man, ready to discuss his cars with anyone at any time, totally dedicated to his work.
I wonder what he could have achieved had this not happened?
#43
Posted 29 November 2010 - 13:37
#44
Posted 29 November 2010 - 14:23
#45
Posted 02 December 2010 - 14:16
Indeed, it seems to suggest Hill may have misjudged his distance from Elstree, rather than his height.
You can download the report at http://www.aaib.gov......76 N6645Y.pdf.
Rgds
Paul
Edited by P0wderf1nger, 02 December 2010 - 14:55.
#46
Posted 28 November 2012 - 23:01
In a perfect universe, one would hope that Rob and Graham, not to mention Seppi Siffert, Jo Bonnier, Maurice Trintignant, Alf Francis, etc. will have had ample opportunity to fully enjoy each other's company and regale one another with tales from another time.
#47
Posted 29 November 2012 - 02:24
#48
Posted 29 November 2012 - 04:13
#49
Posted 29 November 2012 - 07:22
#50
Posted 29 November 2012 - 11:44
I was two years away from attending my first Grand Prix; so was yet to appreciated the full impact of the tragic loss of Graham Hill and his team
I had however devoured all aspects of British Club Racing at Oulton Park during 1974 and 75 and Tony Brise was my first motor racing hero.
Potential World Champion?
Of course: but he joins a long list of drivers who are on that list.
37 years on: but I can see as clear as day Tony Brise in his orange Formula Atlantic Modus leaving the opposition in his wake
PAR