Date:	Wednesday 27 June 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Avro 701 Athena T.2
Owner/operator:	AIEU RAF
Registration:	VR569
MSN:	1519
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	½ mile north of Wilby, near Stradbroke, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro 701 Athena T.Mk.2 VR569, AIEU (Aircraft Instrument Examinations Unit), RAF: Written off (destroyed) 27/6/51 when crashed ½ mile north of Wilby, near Stradbroke, Suffolk. Both crew on board were killed.

The aircraft was undertaking an instrument rating sortie from RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk, when it was seen to emerge from cloud in a spiral dive. Parts of the airbrake were seen to come away from the aircraft, and it crashed ½ mile north of Wilby, near Eye, Suffolk. According to some (unconfirmed) sources, one of the wings may have folded up or broke off in flight. The reasons for the structural failure in flight were not discovered

Crew of Athena VR569:
Flying Officer John Reginald Corke RAF (Instructor Pilot, Armament & Instrument Experimental Unit)
Sergeant James Ellis Walsh (Student Pilot Under Instruction)

The reported crash location of Wilby is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England located around 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Diss and 1.25 miles (2 km) south of Stradbroke along the B1118.

Athena VR569 was the only example of this aircraft type to acquire a civilian registration. It was civil registered (C of R 14883/1; C of A 10797) on 19/12/49 as G-ALWA to the Ministry of Supply, Millbank, London SW.1 for a sales tour of India. (See links #7 & #8 for photos as such). No orders were forthcoming, and the aircraft returned to Croydon on 13/5/50; the registration G-ALWA was cancelled 11/7/50 as "returned to military marks". As VR569, it was demonstrated at the SBAC Farnborough Air Show in September 1950 in a final attempt to generate orders, but to no avail; the RAF preferred the Boulton Paul Balliol. As VR569, it was formally Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(scrap) 30/11/51.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.114 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 151
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/58: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424179
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2534: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578380
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VR
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Athena#Accidents_and_incidents
7. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=211
8. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/7962/G-ALWA
9. https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-A-V-Roe/Avro-701-Athena-T2/2034462
10. https://rafinsuffolk.activeboard.com/t33356617/aircraft-accidents/?page=2#comment-33404445
11. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALWA.pdf
12. http://www.aviationbanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=70092&d=1410696823
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilby,_Suffolk

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Dec-2019 22:34	Dr. John Smith	Added
28-Dec-2019 22:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
29-Dec-2019 19:21	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Sep-2020 09:54	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Country, Destination airport]
09-Jan-2021 09:50	TB	Updated [Operator, Country, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]