ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 22796
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| Date: | Monday 24 March 1975 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Handley Page Victor K.1A |
| Owner/operator: | 57 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | XH618 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea, 95 miles East of Sunderland, County Durham. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Marham |
| RAF Marham | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The aircraft collided with RAF Buccaneer XV156 during simulated air-to-air refuelling. The Buccaneer struck the Victor tanker's tailplane causing the tanker to pitch nose down beyond the vertical, and out of control.
The pilot Flt Lt Keith Handscombe was able to reach the seat pan handle of his ejection seat and escaped with spinal and ankle injuries. The co-pilot and rear cabin crew were unable to overcome the high negative G force and died in the crash.
Buccaneer XV156 was part of a 3 ship flight that was practising in flight refuelling. XV156's pilot was new to the Buccaneer and it was decided that the first few contacts would be "Dry" connections, no fuel taken on. XV156's first contact with the starboard hose was successful and he then moved to try a connection on the port side hose. On this occasion, XV156 approached too fast and at the last moment, he realised that a collision was imminent.
He pulled back on the column and the probe hit the basket at the end of the hose but the aircraft was still going quite fast and it climbed between the trailing edge of the port wing and the leading edge of the tail plane.
At this point XV156 stalled and came down on the port side of the tail plane causing it to detach and causing XH618 to nose dive into the sea. XH618's captain, Flt Lt Handscombe ejected shortly before he reached the cloud tops.
The four crew members that were killed were later named as
Flight Lieutenant David Hallam CROWTHER
Flight Lieutenant Peter Joseph Leo SLATTER
Flying Officer Terence Patrick EVANS
Flying Officer John Arthur PRICE
The bodies of the above four crew nor the wreckage of the Victor were never recovered. The sole survivor (Flt Lt Keith Handscombe) died peacefully of natural causes in 2009
Sources:
1. Air Britain: RAF Aircraft XA100 - XZ999, published 2001
2. Handley Page Victor: The Crescent-Winged V-Bomber (Aerofax)
3. https://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/367531-sqn-ldr-keith-hanscombe.html
4. http://web.archive.org/web/20160303210250/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/Victor.htm
5. http://jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=XH618
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1975.htm
7. http://victorxl231.blogspot.com/2012/03/air-to-air-refueling-accident.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Victor#Accidents_and_incidents
Images:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Sep-2008 21:03 | angels one five | Added |
| 30-Apr-2009 00:01 | angels one five | Updated |
| 27-Feb-2010 06:21 | Anon. | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 22-Aug-2011 09:09 | Uli Elch | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jan-2012 22:21 | sirjames111 | Updated [Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-May-2012 13:57 | harro | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 25-Sep-2012 02:41 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 24-Jun-2013 10:10 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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