Date:	Tuesday 19 July 1960
Time:	day
Type:	Handley Page Victor B.1A
Owner/operator:	57 Sqn RAF
Registration:	XH617
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Oakley, Suffolk, approx. 3 miles SE of Diss, Norfolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Honington, Suffolk (BEQ/EGXH)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Written off when crashed on 19/7/1960. Different sources give differing locations as to exactly where Victor XH617 crashed. The official Board of Inquiry report states that the aircraft crashed near Oakley, Suffolk, approximately 3 miles south-east of Diss, Norfolk, and 15 miles east-south-east of RAF Honington.

Per eyewitness report:

"[XH617] Took off around lunch time. I was on the see off crew. Alternator on a Port engine had a drive shaft failure. Caused a rupture in engine [or fuel tank?] which was unstoppable. Caught fire in flight. All bailed out-Pilot & Co-Pilot baled but only Pilot and AEO survived. GF

Flt. Lt. Bernard Wilding one of the three rear crew members should have been the second rear crew member to jump out via the escape hatch. However, the AEO's seat was unable to slide backwards initially to enable the AEO' to leave his seat. Flt. Lt. Bernard Wilding, who should have been the second rear crew member to escape the via the rear escape hatch, went back to assist the air electronics officer to slide his seat back and get out of his seat. Since the AEO was consequently standing between Flt. Lt. Bernard Wilding and the escape hatch, he told the AEO to escape before him and that he (Bernard Wilding) would follow him. This is what happened, and Flt. Lt. Wilding was the third rear crew member to jump out and not the second as he should have been, however his parachute opened and he was coming down on his parachute when there was a big explosion on the Victor aircraft.

As a consequence of the explosion a large part of one of the aircraft's wings broke off the Victor and hit Flt. Lt. Wilding as he was coming down on his parachute. The impact resulted in Flt. Lt. Wilding being killed as a result of being hit by the detached wing of the aircraft as he was descending on his parachute. It was a freak but tragic consequence of him delaying his escape to assist a fellow crew member to get out of his seat, which resulted in Bernard Wilding being killed as a consequence. The Air Electronics Officer survived the crash.

The Captain, Flight Lieutenant J Mudford and the Air Electronics Operator, Flying Officer G C Stewart, survived the accident."

The three crew members that were killed were:

Flying Officer Michael John WILKES (Co Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant John Bernard Paul WILDING Navigator (Radar)
Flight Lieutenant Rodney Sydney BRISTOW Navigator (Plotter).

1. Air Britain: RAF Aircraft XA100 - XZ999, published 2001
2. http://web.archive.org/web/20160303210250/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/Victor.htm
3. Flight Lieutenant Rodney Syd BRISTOW was my father.
4. Information given above was revealed to me by a surviving crew member. Dilwyn Hardwidge
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1960.htm
6. https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-234875.html
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/438: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424559
8. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/39/S2984: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578764
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakley,_Suffolk
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Victor#Accidents_and_incidents
11. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1960-1969_29.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Feb-2009 22:48	Radar Basher	Updated
22-Aug-2011 09:09	Uli Elch	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
21-Jan-2012 03:27	DB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Apr-2012 23:26	Flt. Lt. Dilwyn Hard	Updated [Departure airport, Embed code, Narrative]
07-May-2012 13:53	harro	Updated [Source, Embed code]
08-Oct-2013 16:28	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
17-Oct-2013 18:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
07-Nov-2018 18:58	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
27-Jan-2020 21:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]