ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25095
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| Date: | Thursday 20 November 1947 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk X |
| Owner/operator: | 1 ANS RAF |
| Registration: | RP500 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea, Off Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Manston, Kent |
| RAF Manston |
Vickers Wellington Mk.X RP500, 1 ANS (Air Navigation School) RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20.11.47 when crashed into the North Sea, Off Birchington-on-Sea, Kent. One person killed.
The crew was completing a training sortie over the North Sea when the right engine failed in flight. The captain reduced his altitude and elected to return to Manston for an emergency landing. While descending to an altitude of 800 feet and while flying across the last cloud layer, the aircraft stalled and crashed into the sea, few miles off Birchington-on-Sea. A crew member was killed while three others were rescued.
While the identity of the crew fatality has not been 100% confirmed, there were only three fatalities in the RAF on 20.11.47. One - F/Lt Donald James Ott Loudon AFC RAF (53250), aged 25 - was killed in the crash of Spitfire SL611. One was a Female LAC (unlikely to be a member of a Wellington aircrew). Which leaves the "likely candidate" as being:
Corporal Henry Norman Berry, Service Number 1009686, RAFVR. Buried Outwood Cemetery, Stanley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Cause: Failure of the right engine.
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.7. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-619-wellington-x-birchington-sea-1-killed
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?25011-471120-Unaccounted-Airwoman-amp-Airmen-20-11-1947&p=144766#post144766
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2414068/berry,-henry-norman/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 26-Apr-2013 09:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 25-Apr-2017 20:02 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Nov-2019 23:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Nov-2019 11:55 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator] |
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