ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 240585
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| Date: | Thursday 14 September 1933 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | De Havilland DH.84 Dragon |
| Owner/operator: | Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd |
| Registration: | G-ACCZ |
| MSN: | 6015 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Passenger |
| Departure airport: | |
| Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
c/no 6015 (Gipsy Major #5170/5171) Registered G-ACCZ [C of R 4093] 21.4.33 to Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd, Renfrew; operated as air ambulance. C of A 3872 issued 11.5.33; delivered 13.5.33. The very next day - 14.5.33 - the first call came in to take a seriously ill fisherman from Bridgend, Islay, to Glasgow. The patient was accompanied by a Glaswegian nurse who was holidaying on Islay, and the trip was made successfully – Scotland's first official air ambulance flight. As per one published source on this subject (see link #5):
"It was early on the morning of 14th May 1933 when Dr. Stewart of Bruichladdich took the first step in what was subsequently to become, literally, a lifeline service to the Highlands and Islands.
Dr. Stewart’s patient, John McDermid, who lived at Braeside, Bruichladdich, was suffering from a major stomach condition which could have quickly developed into peritonitis. The Doctor sent an urgent telegram to the St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association requesting that an aircraft be sent to Islay to evacuate his seriously ill patient and, after drawing a blank with the Scottish Flying Club, Captain Jimmy Orrell, of Midland and Scottish Air Ferries which Company, coincidentally, had just taken delivery of two De Havilland Dragon aircraft equipped to carry stretchers, was despatched to Islay in Dragon G-ACCZ to pick up John.
Captain Orrell landed the Dragon aircraft on the sand at the head of Lochindaal at 11.15 a.m. and Mrs. A. Ferguson, a Glasgow nurse who just happened to be on Islay on holiday, joined the return flight to Glasgow, thereby establishing the continuing tradition of in-flight nursing care. As most Ileach will know John McDermid, after a 40-minute flight to Glasgow, was successful operated on and returned to Islay to live and work until his death in 1982 at the age of 82 years of age.
Since that pioneering flight in 1933 dozens of Ileach have owed their lives to the Scottish Air Ambulance Service and more than a dozen, who couldn’t wait to be born, saw the first light of day in the cabin of an Air Ambulance aircraft en-route to Glasgow".
Engine failure and crashed Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland 14.9.33; Following engine failure the aircraft carried out a forced landing in a field in Northen Ireland, nosed over, damaging the fuselage, under carriage and propellers. Narrative and a photograph of the aircraft on its nose, taken by Mr. A. C. Jack, Chief Engineer with Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd in the 1930s, is shown in the 'Aeroplane Monthly' December 1975 Page 602
Repaired at Renfrew and re-flown 14.12.33. M&SAF ceased trading 30.9.34 and aircraft then sold to a "dealer in South of England". Delivered 3.35 and registered [C of R 5874] 15.5.35 to Crilly Airways Ltd, Doncaster, South Yorkshire and Braunstone, Leicestershire. Aircraft damaged when Pilot made forced landing in a field at Stoughton, Leicestershire, due to bad weather 23.8.35. Receiver for Crilly Airways appointed 9.9.36; aircraft seized in Portugal. Sold 10.36 to dealer H. Welch of General Motor & Tyre Co, Hammersmith, London W6; advertised for sale from Croydon but still in Portugal 31.1.37. C of A lapsed 29.6.37.
Advertised for sale 7.37 by General Motor, apparently having been ferried to Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey and placed into storage. Registered [C of R 8224] 16.11.37 to Aircraft Facilities Ltd, Witney, Oxfordshire. (Possibly - but unlikely - operated by Norman Edgar (Western Airways) Ltd in early 1938?). Re-registered [C of R 8450] 12.4.38 to Flight Lieutenant Eric Noddings, Chipstead, Surrey, as nominee for (and operated by) Air Dispatch Ltd, Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey; C of A renewed 23.5.38. C of A renewed 27.12.39 and re-registered 22.1.40 to Air Dispatch Ltd, Cardiff.
Registration cancelled 19.7.40 as 'sold' ("Change of Ownership of Aircraft"). To Station Flight, RAF Ringway, Cheshire 6.7.40 and impressed into military service as AW154 7.7.40. Allotted to 8 AACU RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset 10.8.40 and fitted with night flying equipment 12.40. Loaned to 7 AACU RAF Castle Bromwich. Staffordshire 16.9.40-5.10.40 and officially issued to them 13.1.41.
Withdrawn from use and struck off charge 10.11.41 but allotted 3.12.41 to No.635 ATC Squadron, West Hartlepool Technical College, Hartlepool, County Durham as instructional airframe 2820M. Struck off charge and broken up for spares 20.12.42.
Sources:
1. Aeroplane Monthly December 1975 Page 602
2. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH84.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p060.html
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ACCZ.pdf
5. https://islay.scot/the-islay-air-ambulance-disaster/
6. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Midland_%26_Scottish_Air_Ferries#Operations
7. https://leicestershire-aviation.co.uk/aircraft-crashes-force-landings-in-leicestershire/
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antrim,_County_Antrim
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Aug-2020 17:21 | Peter Clarke | Added |
| 24-Oct-2022 02:07 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Oct-2022 22:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 25-Oct-2022 20:23 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 25-Oct-2022 20:27 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Country] |
| 24-Nov-2023 14:50 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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