[1] The Junkers F.13ge registered G-AAZK, which was owned by the pilot Lieutenant-Colonel George Henderson, had been lent to the Walcot Air Line to operate a charter flight between Le Touquet in France and Croydon Airport south of London.

[2] As the aircraft was above Kent it appeared to have disintegrated and crashed near the village green at Meopham, five miles (8 km) south of Gravesend.

[2] The passengers were the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Viscountess Ednam (formerly Lady Rosemary Sutherland-Leveson-Gower), sister of the 5th Duke of Sutherland, Sir Edward Simons Ward Bt and Mrs Sigrid Loeffler,[5] none of whom survived.

[5] After identification evidence for the victims and testimony from some of the witnesses had been heard the inquest was adjourned until August pending results from an Air Ministry Inquiry.

[6] The investigation had shown no evidence of faulty material or bad workmanship but it was clear that the port wing had folded or collapsed upwards where it joined the fuselage.

[6] The jury returned a verdict "that the victims met their death falling from an aeroplane, the cause of the accident being unknown".

Henderson had earlier flown his wife from Le Touquet to Croydon and had returned for four more passengers before going back again for the remaining four.

[5] The investigation was assisted by personnel from the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt, the National Physical Laboratory and the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

[9] The final report was issued in January 1931 and the committee concluded the cause to be the "failure of the tailplane under severe buffeting from air eddies produced by the centre section of certain low-wing monoplanes when the aircraft approaches the stalling attitude".