Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Shoreham Airshow crash
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Shoreham Airshow crash, as we remember the 11 souls who lost their lives on this date in 2015. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the tragedy on this difficult day.
The 11 men who died in the air crash were:
Maurice Rex Abrahams, 76, of Brighton
Dylan Archer, 42, of Brighton
Anthony David Brightwell, 53, of Hove
Matthew Grimstone, 23, of Brighton
Matthew Wesley Jones, 24, of Littlehampton
James Graham Mallinson, 72, of Newick
Daniele Gaetano Polito, 23, of Goring by Sea
Mark Alexander Reeves, 53, of Seaford
Jacob Henry Schilt, 23, of Brighton
Richard Jonathan Smith, 26, of Hove
Mark James Trussler, 54 of Worthing
On 22 August 2015, a former military aircraft crashed during a display at the Shoreham Airshow at Shoreham Airport, England, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others. It was the deadliest air show accident in the United Kingdom since the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash, which killed 31 people.
The aircraft, a Hawker Hunter T7, failed to complete a loop manoeuvre and crashed, hitting vehicles on the A27 road. The pilot, Andy Hill, was critically injured but survived.
As a result of the accident, all civilian-registered Hawker Hunter aircraft in the United Kingdom were grounded, and restrictions were put in place on civilian vintage jet aircraft displays over land, limiting them to flypasts and banning high-energy aerobatic manoeuvres.
The official investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that the crash resulted from pilot error. In 2018, Hill was charged with eleven counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of endangering an aircraft. He was found not guilty on all counts on 8 March 2019. The organisers of the Shoreham Airshow denied any responsibility for the crash.
An inquest into the deaths of the victims is scheduled to be held in 2021.
