Date:	Friday 31 July 1936
Time:	night
Type:	Saro A.19 Cloud
Owner/operator:	Jersey Airways
Registration:	G-ABXW
MSN:	A.19/4
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Les Minquiers Reef, ca 28 km S of Jersey, Channel Islands -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
Destination airport:	Jersey, Channel Islands
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
First registered (C of R 3810) on 15.6.32 as G-ABXW to British Flying Boats Ltd., Edinburgh, Lothian. C of A 3533 issued July 1932. Fitted with 300 hp (224 kW) Wright J-6 radial engines. Named 'Cloud of Iona'. It was operated by British Flying Boats Ltd for joy-riding and charter flights, and briefly trialled a service between Glasgow and Belfast. Sold on and re-registered (C of R 5357) 14.9.34 to Spartan Air Lines Ltd., London SW.1 (aircraft based at Cowes, Isle of Wight). Aircraft leased in 1936 to Jersey Airways, and operated out of Jersey on a Jersey-Guernsey service.

On 31.7.36, Saro A.19 Cloud amphibian G-ABXW "Cloud of Iona" went missing on a flight from Guernsey to Jersey on a stormy evening. While cruising off Jersey by night, crew encountered poor weather conditions and attempted to ditch the aircraft when the accident occurred. Debris were found few hours later some 28 kilometers off Jersey. All ten occupants (eight passengers and two crew) were killed:

Capt William Halmshaw (pilot, aged 28) drowned (Flying Officer, RAF)
W Sotinel (aged 20) drowned (mechanic)
Ernest Appleby (passenger, 33) drowned
Miss Maud Bean (passenger), drowned
Miss Margaret Davies (passenger, aged 22) drowned
Miss Alice Judd (passenger, 45) drowned
Miss Edwina (Elsie) Marley (passenger, 24) drowned
Mrs Florence Annie Simpson (passenger) drowned
Charles Viel (passenger, aged 67) drowned
Claude Stewart Willis (passenger, 20) drowned

It was theorized that the flight in turbulent conditions may have caused a small quantity of fuel in the bottom of the tank to surge sufficiently to uncover the tank outlet temporarily, and thus cause one or both fuel pumps to become air-locked. The aircraft’s undercarriage had been extended at the time of the ditching, suggesting that the pilot had tried to reach land after the failure of one or both power plants.

Rescue efforts had been hampered by the heavy seas and the fact that G-ABXW was not equipped with radio equipment, which could have been used to establish its position. It was in fact noted in the report of the UK Accidents Investigation Branch that the dispatch of an aircraft without a radio violated established directives.

Registration G-ABXW cancelled by the Air Ministry 31.7.36 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft"

1. Doyle, Neville. 1991. From Sea-Eagle to Albatross: Channel Island Airlines 1923-1939. ISBN 1-85421-103-X
2. Doyle, Neville. 2002. The Triple Alliance: The Predecessors of the first British Airways. Air-Britain. ISBN 0-85130-286-6
3. http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ABXW.pdf
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Airways#Accidents
5. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576816
6. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1936/archives/crash-of-a-saro-a-19-in-jersey-10-killed/]
7. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/component/content/article/15-aeroplanes/76-register-gb-g-ab
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A3.html
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saro_Cloud#Variants

Saro A.19 Cloud G-ABXW "Cloud of Iona" on the beach at Jersey, 1936:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
08-Nov-2008 11:32	harro	Updated
11-Dec-2014 12:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
10-Dec-2017 16:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
06-Apr-2018 16:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]