It has been a bittersweet week for Kristin Scott Thomas. On Thursday the acclaimed actress was at Buckingham Palace to receive her Damehood from the Queen, a reward for a lifetime of achievement – and almost a dress rehearsal for her new West End role playing the Monarch in The Audience. But her delight at the presentation must have involved a moment of quiet reflection, too. For last week was also the anniversary of the death of her father, taken from her in a dramatic fighter plane accident almost half a century ago on March 17, 1966. She was just five. Dame Kristin, 54 – nominated for an Oscar for her mesmerising role in The English Patient – has said little about the loss in public, but recalled that ‘Mummy was pregnant at the time and I can remember when she told us. In one breath it was, “Daddy has had an accident and won’t be coming home and I’m going to have a baby.” So it sort of took the sting out of it’. The exact details of his crash, however, have remained shrouded in secrecy – like so much else associated with the Cold War – until now, thanks to the release of a recently declassified air investigation report. Heartbreaking: Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was only five when her father was killed in a dramatic fighter plane accident . It reveals that Lieutenant Commander Simon Thomas was flying a Sea Vixen jet when it exploded after crashing into the sea off the Dorset coast. He was taking part in a training exercise for a type of mission that has since been described as ‘perhaps the most stupid, and potentially suicidal attacks ever invented’. The Sea Vixen was in the vanguard of a new generation of high-speed jets that relied on swept wings and two Rolls-Royce engines to achieve near-supersonic speed. They were designed for aircraft carriers for night-time flying and one of their tasks would be to attack Soviet ships in the event of a war. Astonishingly, of the 145 Sea Vixens built, 54 were lost in accidents and 55 crew members killed during the 13 years of frontline service with the Fleet Air Arm from 1959 to 1972. This was a worse rate of attrition than the notorious F-104 Starfighter, which became known as the ‘Widowmaker’ in Cold War West Germany because 30 per cent were lost to accidents. Lieut Cmdr Thomas, the report reveals, was the designated leader when he and three other Sea Vixen pilots lined up on the runway on the night of March 17. They were tasked with taking off from air base HMS Heron, in Yeovilton, Somerset, and attacking a target being pulled by a frigate, HMS Zulu, off Portland in Dorset. Horrific: Lieutenant Commander Simon Thomas was killed during a dangerous night-time training mission . With classic military understatement the report states that they faced ‘unpleasant conditions’, which included poor visibility, fog patches and a pitch black night. Furthermore, it was believed to have been Thomas’s first attempt at firing Glow Worm flares since he had returned to frontline duties after working as a Vixen flying instructor. The notorious flares were designed to illuminate the target prior to attack but had already been involved in a succession of accidents. As the leader, Thomas was expected to fire off the flares above the frigate so that they would illuminate the target in silhouette. The following three Sea Vixens were then tasked with attacking the dummy ship in quick succession before the leader himself would launch the final attack. All four were supposed to roll into a dive before firing off their rockets at the target at a pre-ordained angle and altitude. However, the training mission was dogged with bad luck from the outset, with one of the Sea Vixens failing to make it off the runway. The three others took off and assumed the attack formation, with Thomas in the lead, to a point 20 miles south of HMS Zulu. But then Vixen No 2 lost his radar and, after trying to maintain his position, was instructed by Thomas to return to base. This meant that No 3 assumed the No 2 position and the two remaining Vixens turned to prepare for the attack. On their first run, Thomas failed to fire the flares. Both planes turned round for a second run, but the new No 2 struggled to maintain position. By the time they were in position for a second strike, the crew of No 2 suddenly realised that HMS Zulu had changed its orientation and was now directly behind the target as they approached it. Worried their missiles could hit the frigate instead of the target it was towing, they aborted the attack for safety reasons. The report adds that the crew of No 2 heard Thomas call ‘turning in’ in preparation for his attack and ‘some five to ten seconds [later] the pilot noticed a flash’. Zulu’s crew also saw an explosion, which turned out to be Lieut Cmdr Thomas’s aircraft hitting the water and exploding. Thomas was killed instantly and his co-pilot, Lieutenant John Harvey, was listed as missing. Dame Kristin, born in Cornwall in 1960, later said that after the news of her father’s death ‘we went down to school and everybody had to be nice to us and we didn’t really understand why. Kids are so resilient. It’s only later that you realise what a terrible shock it was. I can still remember him. It’s like having a little film playing in your head. I can still remember his smell, it’s really weird. The thing that breaks my heart is the smell of engine oil’. Indeed, she has been doubly unfortunate. Kristin’s widowed mother went on to marry another Fleet Air Arm pilot, Simon Idiens, who died in another air accident in 1972. Lieutenant Commander Thomas was flying a Sea Vixen jet (pictured) when it exploded after crashing into the sea off the Dorset coast . Author Tony Buttler, in his book about the Sea Vixen, branded the Glow Worm manoeuvre, for which Lieut Cmdr Thomas was practising, ‘perhaps the most stupid, and potentially suicidal attack ever invented. Once the leader had fired the flares he had to bank left hard, climb to 4,000ft, come up behind the fourth Sea Vixen, a complex manoeuvre complicated further by the fact he had to switch on his weapons panel, which meant switching hands on the control stick, while turning his head to locate the weapons switch’. All of this was happening while the jet was maintaining a steep bank climb and the pilot was subjected to considerable G-forces. It was a recipe for disorientation and disaster. The conclusion to the MoD report offers little solace, indirectly blaming HMS Zulu and the exercise. Sir Mark Thomson, a former Sea Vixen pilot, said: ‘When you are flying at night there is no horizon. You have disorientation in relation to the ground or surface, where the ship is. You have the disorientation in relation to where the other planes are as you look in and out of the cockpit. ‘You are also looking for the weapons switch on your right side and if you are flying with your right hand you either switch hands or reach over with your left hand. ‘I can see Simon now. He was absolutely magical, the most wonderful and enchanting guy. There was no better-looking couple and while I can see Deborah in Kristin, Kristin also looks just like her father. ‘She has that classic English look with those high cheekbones. Simon and Deborah had star quality. Life can be so cruel, especially to Deborah. She even had a boyfriend between the two Simons and he was also killed in a flying accident.’
Kristin Scott Thomas's father died in a dramatic fighter plane accident . Lieutenant Commander Simon Thomas was flying a jet when it exploded . Crash over Dorset coast happened in 1966, when Kristin was just five . Details of the Cold War tragedy were shrouded in secrecy - until now .