General Aircraft GAL.56 - 01 TS507
General Aircraft GAL.56 - 01 TS507, Medium V at the 1947 Radlett SBAC show, 12"13 September 1947. GAL.56 - 01 TS507 Also known as the "Medium-V" version, had a constant 33.5 deg wing sweep-back at the leading edge, 28.4 deg at quarter chord. On 13 November 1944, Robert Kronfeld piloted the first flight at Farnborough, towed by an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.. TS507 conducted numerous flights from RAF Dunholme Lodge and RAF Wittering, variously towed by a Whitley, Supermarine Spitfire, or a Handley Page Halifax. After May 1945, research flights continued at Farnborough, and in August 1947 it was transferred to the GAL Flight Test Department at Lasham Airfield, where the GAL.56 - 03 and GAL.56 - 04 were already employed for trials under contract to the Air Ministry.
Its flying characteristics proved so bad that test pilot Capt. Eric "Winkle" Brown RN later described it as the most difficult aircraft he ever flew, out of the many hundreds of types that he tested. On 12 February 1948, the TS507 was conducting a stalling trial after being towed to 10, 000 ft by a Halifax. The pilot, Robert Kronfeld, initiated a stall that progressed into an uncontrollable dive that caused both crew to lose consciousness. The observer, Barry MacGowan, awoke to find that the aircraft was level but inverted. He baled out successfully at low level, but Kronfeld died in the crash at Lower Froyle, near Lasham
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Awoke Baled Capt Caused Characteristics Chord Conducted Conducting Consciousness Constant Continued Contract Described Difficult Dive Employed Farnborough Flew Flights Halifax Handley Hundreds Initiated Inverted Kronfeld Lasham Level Lose Macgowan Numerous Observer Piloted Progressed Proved Radlett Sbac Spitfire Stall Stalling Successfully Supermarine Sweep-back Tested Towed Transferred Uncontrollable Variously Whitley Whitworth Winkle Wittering
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