What happened to the Bluebird G-EBKD in 1927?

Short answer

It was destroyed on 6 June 1927 at Bournemouth, Dorset, when it collided with a Westland Widgeon. Both aircraft crashed at Ensbury Park racecourse; the Bluebird was flown by Squadron Leader Walter Hunt Longton, 34. Its registration was cancelled on 14 June.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

What happened to the Bluebird G-EBKD in 1927?

Blackburn Bluebird 3 view NACA Aircraft Circular No 45

A wooden biplane with folding wings

The Bluebird was a single-bay wooden biplane with folding wings and a single cockpit with two side-by-side seats. The prototype Blackburn Bluebird I G-EBKD (c/n 9803/1) first flew in 1924, as one of several designs built for the Lympne light aeroplane trials in Kent in September 1924. Engine problems, which failed to deliver the expected power, prevented it from competing in the 1924 contest.

Air races

The aircraft was entered in several air races, with one success in the 1926 Grosvenor Cup, which it won.

The Ensbury Park collision

G-EBKD was destroyed at Bournemouth, Dorset, on 6 June 1927, when it collided with a Westland Widgeon. The mid-air collision occurred between the Widgeon, flown by Laurence Openshaw, and the Bluebird of Squadron Leader Walter Longton; both aircraft crashed at Ensbury Park racecourse in Bournemouth, Dorset. Longton, who held the DFC and AFC, was 34 years old. How the accident happened will probably never be established for certain. The registration was cancelled on 14 June 1927 as "permanently withdrawn from use".