Date:	Thursday 22 May 1952
Time:	00:01
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk III
Owner/operator:	203 Sqn RAF
Registration:	RE200
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 11
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Latters Farm, Mereworth, nr RAF West Malling, Maidstone, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Malling, Kent
Destination airport:	RAF West Malling, Kent
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster RE200: Written off (destroyed) 22 May 1952 when caught fire in flight on a sortie from RAF St. Eval, Cornwall. The pilot attempted to make an emergency landing at RAF West Malling, Maidstone. However, the aircraft crashed into an orchard at Latters Farm, Mereworth, about 800 yards short of the runway. The aircraft ended up off the 07 end of the runway on farmland that is located between the A228 Malling Road and the old perimeter of the airfield, opposite and a little to the south of the junction with Kent Street. Four of the seven crew on board were killed.

This aircraft was taking part in exercise “Lightstrike 6” which took place between the 19th to 22nd May. As the name suggests this was the sixth of a series of exercises designed to test how effective fighter aircraft would be in defending against nighttime attacks made by enemy motor torpedo boats. The entry in the Operations Record Book for RAF West Malling concerning the incident reads as follows...

"May 1952.
On the nights of 19th, 21st and 22nd May, three phases of Exercise "Lightstrike 6" were carried out to determine the effectiveness of fighter aircraft against "E-boat" type surface craft. A Lancaster of Coastal Command using A.S.V. was employed to locate the targets. It then homed the fighters to its position and illuminated the target by flares. This method proved itself to be most satisfactory. A fatal accident marred an otherwise successful exercise when, on the night of 21st-22nd May, a flare ignited in the bomb bay of a returning Lancaster which crashed on the S.W. boundary of the airfield. In this accident one officer navigator of No.25 Squadron and two airmen of No.85 Squadron who were being carried as passengers were killed.

According to a contemporary newspaper report:

"Bomber crash in Kent orchard kills four
Four airmen were killed and another seven injured when a four engined Lancaster bomber crashed at a farm at Mereworth, near Maidstone on May 22, 1952

About an acre of young apple trees and gooseberry bushes was devastated as the machine overshot the perimeter of Malling aerodrome and travelled some 150 yards at ground level before impact. The pilot, who suffered a broken leg, managed to get out of the wreckage and fire Verey lights to attract attention. Wreckage from the bomber, which was returning from a night exercise, was strewn across nearby Latter’s Farm. The farmer, Mr A Kemp, revealed it was the fifth time a plane had crashed on his land “My wife heard the plane at about 1am and heard a bit of a bump. Then it was quiet. Soon after we heard shouting, both from the direction of the aerodrome and from the plantation about 400 yards from the farm buildings””

Tragically of the four who were fatally injured three were members of the resident 25 and 85 squadrons and were onboard as passengers. An Air Britain register gives a brief insight into what happened giving the cause as a flare igniting causing the aircraft to belly land. It would seem that as part of the exercise Lancasters of Coastal Command were tasked to fly over the Thames Estuary and drop flares over Royal Navy torpedo boats to illuminate them whilst fighters attacked. Unfortunately a flare from RE200 accidentally ignited inside the aircraft and for some reason could not be jettisoned. West Malling was only a relatively short distance away but nevertheless RE200 together with four personnel came to a tragic end that night."

The four crew who were killed were:
Leading Aircraftman John Albert Bacon (Passenger) killed,
Flight Lieutenant (109939) Harry John King (Navigator, aged 29, Adjutant from 25 Squadron) killed,
Flight Sergeant William McKune (Signaller) killed, buried at West Malling Parish Church, grave number 205
Leading Aircraftman Raymond Henry Pearson (Passenger) killed

The survivors were:
Seriously Injured:
Flight Lieutenant R. Owen and
Sergeant P.H. Court

Injured:
Flight Lieutenant W.L. Dinnes (pilot - sustained burns injuries)
Flight Sergeant J. Murzyn,
Sergeant T. Lewes,
Sergeant (2481710) Thomas Ian Morris Renwick (Flight Engineer) and
AC2 (Aircraftman 2nd Class) R.J. Barnard

The following eyewitness testimony comes from one of the survivors, writing in September 2016:

"I am Thomas Ian Morris Renwick, RAF National Service No 2481710, formerly Flight Engineer on Lancaster RE200.

This aircraft was based at RAF St.Eval, Cornwall at the time of interest and was on detachment to RAF West Malling for the purpose of Operation Lightstrike 6 which involved the dropping of flares to identify small fast surface craft for fighter to attack

These flares were of 75,000 candle power and about 4ft long. They were carried in the bombay of the aircraft and released using the normal bomb release mechanism of a circular selector bank of switches each releasing one flare on activation. Operation of the flare involved the release of the flare upon which a firing pin operated an explosive charge which ejected the flare from its container, caused it to ignite and deploy a parachute to slow its descent. So far as I can remember we probably carried about 10 flares but at this time I cannot remember the actual number carried on that night.

We were not a standard crew as only two of us, Flight Sergeant McKune and I had flown together with any regularity. The captain was Flt.Lt Dinnes, I cannot remember the name of the 2nd Pilot, Flt.Lt King was the navigator, I was the Flight Engineer, Flight Sergeant McKune was the signaller and I think a Sergeant called Evans was the radar operator.

There may have been one other crew member but I cannot recall his name if there was one. LAC's Bacon and Pearson were carried as volunteer passengers who had asked to come along for the experience.. They were stationed at West Malling. There may have been other passengers who were also killed but I cannot remember if this was the case.

The exercise went as planned over the North Sea between UK and Holland and the circuit board showed that all flare positions were empty. I know this because although I had no bomb aimer training, as the navigator was fully occupied checking various positions on the navigation equipment known as Gee I was instructed to launch the flares from the bomb aimers position in the nose. On completion of this I returned to my position beside the navigator.

We then set course for home but on the approach to land a fierce fire started in the nose compartment causing the aircraft to crash, split in two at the rear of the bomb bay, which was the weakest point.

I do not know whether we overshot the runway or under shot it but the impact and the dust it raised put out the burning flare by cutting it in two.

I had managed to reach my crash position between the spars and was relatively uninjured apart from what turned out to be severely bruised ribs and knees and back strain. I recall sitting on the starboard wing and then setting off for air traffic control to report the accident.

Sgt Evans who suffered bad skull injuries when the aircraft split and passed over him. Flight Lt Dinnes had severe burns to his hands and arms but did a magnificent job in landing the aircraft.

It was subsequently discover that the cause of the accident was the length of the chord was attached to a pin which passed through a hole in a screw thread to the igniter chord which armed the flares. This pin stopped a small propellor device from rotating but when withdrawn the propellor rotates off the screw thread an ignites the explosive charge which fires the flare candle out of its housing and deploys the flare parachute which then floats down lighting up the target. The flare housing is jettisoned when the candle is lit but the delay between the fuse being activated and the discharge of the candle is to avoid premature ignition damaging the aircraft.

It appears that the cause of the accident was that one flare did not drop properly and the small jarring of the aircraft as the flaps and undercarriage were lowered for landing was enough to cause it to drop on to the closed bomb bay doors.

The result of the enquiry was that it was an accident and recommended that all fire fuse links be lengthened so that a flare could land on the bomb bay doors but the fuse would not be activated and it could be safely removed by armourers."

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.150 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 410
3. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 134)
4. Bombers Fly East: WWII RAF Operations in the Middle and Far East p 119 By Martin W Bowman
5. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1537.0
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-683-lancaster-mr3-raf-west-malling-4-killed
7. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/116831-lancaster-mr-3-re200-crash-at-west-malling-22-05-52 .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Feb-2020 00:32	Dr. John Smith	Added
07-Feb-2020 09:27	Iwosh	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
07-Feb-2020 19:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Mar-2021 21:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
08-Mar-2021 22:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
28-Jun-2023 09:48	Nepa	Updated [[Location, Source, Narrative]]