We had to cut off the driver’s door before assessing his injuries and with the door off I could see his feet were trapped by the engine bulkhead which had been forced to the rear. Whilst updating the Brigade on the radio I recognised the driver’s car and registration, although I couldn’t recognise him due to his facial injuries. The direction of travel and time of day confirmed that he was an engineer from the Bristol Engine Company who travelled to the airfield several days a week to install and ground test the Pegasus engine fitted in the Harrier. He was given first aid whilst the bulkhead and pedals were carefully cut allowing his feet and legs to be freed so he could be transferred to the ambulance.
    Knowing that the Bristol engineer would be expected at the airfield I telephoned the Chief Test Pilot, Duncan Simpson, and told him about the accident and where I thought the injured man had been taken. Strangely, I thought, the CTP asked where the car had been taken and I guessed the Dunsfold Village garage.
    In the evening one of the Dunsfold firemen, whose full-time job was as a mechanic at the Dunsfold garage, said he had been sent out to recover the two vehicles involved in the crash. Later in the day a group of suited men arrived at the garage, one showing a Special Branch ID who asked to see the Bristol engineer’s car and then for the group to be left alone with the vehicle. However, they had to ask for the assistance of a mechanic to access a compartment in the mangled floor pan and so retrieve several engine performance computer tapes.