ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27882
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| Date: | Friday 28 June 1946 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide |
| Owner/operator: | East African Airways |
| Registration: | VP-KCU |
| MSN: | 6848 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Garsen, Lamu, Tana River County, 130 miles N of Mombasa -
 Kenya
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Nairobi Dagoretti, Kenya |
| Mombasa, Kenya | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no.6848: Taken on charge as NR772 at De Havilland Witney 20.2.45 for refurbishment as Mk.II. Delivered week ending 1.7.45 and sold 12.7.45 to BOAC for East African Airways. Registered G-AGOX (C of R 9627) 31.5.45 to British Overseas Airways Corporation, Nairobi. C of A 7184 issued 4.7.45; ferried to Nairobi 12.7.45-19.7.45.
Registration cancelled 2.8.46 as 'sold abroad'. Registered in Kenya as VP-KCU 10.8.45 to East African Airways Corporation, Nairobi.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 28.6.46: Force landed in bush after running out of fuel near Garsen, Lamu, Tana River County, 130 miles north of Mombasa, 28.6.46 and aircraft abandoned; en route Nairobi to Mombasa.
My Father Dr C W Davies was landed in another De Havilland VP-KCT to rescue survivors - No deaths among the eight persons on board (pilot and seven passengers). They survived by drinking dew drops from the wings. According to a contemporary newspaper report (see link#7)
"On 28th June 1946, a Rapide VP-KCU plane enroute from Nairobi to Mombasa made a crash landing in Garsen near Lamu. The pilot had been flying on the wrong bearing and went off course, eventually running out of fuel and being forced to crash. The eight passengers promptly abandoned the wreckage and begun a three day survival series that would be so awesome that it would almost be forgotten in Kenyan History.
The passenger manifest shows that the passengers included a pilot, five adults and a baby girl. The plan was spotted by an RAF Baltimore on the 30th June, but the party was only rescued the following day. In total, the six adults and an infant survived three days in the wilderness with nothing to eat but biscuits, marmalade, chocolate, and whisky and dew water of course. There is no mention of whether the eight month old infant was fed on whisky!"
Sources:
1. Memoirs of Dr C W DAVIES --supplied by Dr R A DAVIES
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AGOX.pdf
3. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
4. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/vp-kaa_&_sy-aaa.pdf
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-garsen
7. https://owaahh.com/7-chilling-survival-stories-in-kenyan-aircraft-crashes/
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garsen
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 14-Jun-2011 22:10 | dicdic | Updated [Total fatalities, Location, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 30-Dec-2011 08:47 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Feb-2019 23:03 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Feb-2019 21:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
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