Date:	Thursday 8 December 1949
Time:
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk X
Owner/operator:	201 AFS RAF
Registration:	PF988
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Swinderby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex

Narrative:
The crew was completing a training flight over The Channel. While flying off the Channel Islands, the crew informed ground about an engine fire. The captain decided to divert to RAF Tangmere for an emergency landing. On final approach, he was unable to lower the gear so the aircraft belly landed, slid for several yards and came to rest in flames.

While all three occupants were uninjured, the aircraft was destroyed by the post impact fire. The student navigator (Stephen Purvis Cawthorne, DFM) rescued the signaller (Sgt G. Burrell) from the burning wreckage. For this act of gallantry, he was awarded the B.E.M (British Empire Medal). All three occupants were injured - pilot thrown out suffering head injuries; Stephen Cawthorne serious hand burns, and Sgt Burrell severe face and hand burns which necessitated lengthy hospital treatment. Sgt Burrell had previously served as a wireless operator/air gunner on Blenheims (114 Sqn UK) and RAF Liberators (215 Sqn Far East) in WW2,

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.96. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.561
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/30/W2474: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578320
5. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-619-wellington-x-raf-tangmere

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
01-Sep-2013 20:27	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative]
27-Apr-2015 19:44	ABBA	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Destination airport]
24-Apr-2017 19:58	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Dec-2019 15:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
08-Dec-2019 17:29	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]
22-Dec-2019 08:42	ProfPaul	Updated [Narrative]