Date:	Saturday 9 July 1949
Time:	11:43
Type:	Handley Page Halifax Met Mk VI
Owner/operator:	202 Sqn RAF
Registration:	ST818
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Aircraft missing
Location:	Atlantic Ocean, West of The Outer Hebrides, Scotland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Survey
Departure airport:	RAF Aldergrove, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Handley Page Halifax Met VI ST818, 202 Squadron, RAF: Went missing (presumed destroyed) 9 July 1949 with all seven crew posted as missing presumed killed

The aircraft left Belfast-Aldergrove Airport at 08:50 Local Time on a BIZMUTH meteorological recce mission over the Atlantic Ocean. The crew maintained radio contact with the ground until 11:43 Local Time when it disappeared from radar screens. SAR operations were conducted on a large area west of the Outer Hebrides Islands but were eventually suspended as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was found. On board were three passengers and four crew members from 202 Squadron. The weather was favourable except for some patches of sea fog and continuous non turbulent stratus cloud above 12,000 feet. All seven crew posted as missing believed lost:

Pilot I Eric Harold Tiller
Pilot II Donald Alfred John William Britton Cross
Navigator II Charles Herbert Temple Broughton
Engineer II James Bell Dale
Signaller I Percy McKenzie Graham
Signaller II Thomas William Mawson
Sgt Edward Clarance Cook - Met Observer

Per a report in "Flight" magazine 29 October 1964:

"I had the privilege of serving in 202 Sqn with Halifax VIs from 1947 until 1949. No 518 Sqn, which had carried out these met sorties from 1943, was renumbered 202 in 1946. No 202 had previously been a flying-boat squadron.

However, it was during my period in 202 Sqn that Halifax ST818, R/T call sign "Demand Sugar," failed to return from a Bismuth sortie—July 9, 1949 was, I think, the actual date.

A large air/sea rescue operation was mounted but other than the fact that the captain (PII Tiller) had decided to carry out his climb 100 miles before his normal climb position, due to fuel transfer pump trouble, nothing more was seen or heard of the aircraft, to my knowledge."

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.90. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p 513
3. El Tiempo 11 July 1949, p 8
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1133-Halifax-Ditching-202-Sq-Off-Western-Isles&p=5891#post5891
5. "Flight" magazine 29 October 1964: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?11465-Halifax-(Met)-Mk-VI-ST818
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-handley-page-hp70-halifax-met6-atlantic-ocean-7-killed
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._202_Squadron_RAF#Post-war

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
07-Jun-2010 01:35	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Narrative]
08-Jun-2010 10:13	TB	Updated [Aircraft type]
09-Jun-2012 19:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Aug-2012 07:19	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
30-Apr-2014 13:51	TB	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
03-Mar-2017 23:37	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
23-Oct-2018 20:50	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
30-Oct-2019 19:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]