ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 201444
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| Date: | Monday 16 March 1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | 57 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | X3599 |
| MSN: | DX-? |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Thomas Mountain County Down Northern Ireland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Feltwell |
| RAF Aldergrove |
Crashed into Thomas Mountain County Down in Northern Ireland. Weather played a major factor in the accident
Crew
Pilot: Fg Off Harald Eric Hunter RNZAF - Belfast City Cemetery Glenalina Extn. Sec. A.S. Grave 127.
Observer: Fg Off John William Elliott - Belfast City Cemetery Glenalina Extn. Sec. A.S. Grave 126
Wireless operator/Air Gunner: Sgt William Swordy Taylor - Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Byker & Heaton) Cemetery Sec. 2. Grave 326.
Passengers
Flt Sgt Lindsay Ross Williams RAAF - Belfast City Cemetery Glenalina Extn. Sec. A.S. Grave 125.
Section Officer Barbara Kathleen Blakiston-Houston WAAF - Loughinisland (St John) Church of Ireland Churchyard County Down Grave 166.
Sgt Henderson Injured
Sgt Paul Hendrick Morey (108 Sqn) - Shirley (St John) Churchyard Surrey Sec. N. Grave 151.
UK National Archives at Kew, holds the casualty report for this accident (AIR 81/12761) and has a different list of those aboard from that above.
The narrative above appears to include some individuals who died in another accident that occurred on the island of Ireland that day. Please see below.
Those killed in the loss of X3599 (according to the original casualty report referenced above) are listed as:
Flying Officer H E Hunter (RNZAF),
Flying Officer J W Elliott (RCAF),
Sergeant W S Taylor,
Flying Officer H L Magee,
Assistant Section Officer B K Blakiston-Houston (WAAF),
and Reverend J D Crawford
Sergeant W L Henderson is listed as injured.
Barbara was from Northern Ireland. Brief details of her life can be found at https://www.militaryimages.net/media/barbara-kathleen-blakiston-houston.137002/
Hugh Larmour Magee is listed as a Flight Lieutenant on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website and is buried at Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.
Reverend James Dawson lived in Norfolk but had family ties in County Monaghan in the Irish Republic.
Sergeant Paul Morey (serving with No. 108 Squadron) died in the crash of Consolidated Liberator MkII AL577 which was on a flight from Egypt to RAF Hurn in Dorset, England when it encountered bad weather and flew off course.
The casualty report for this incident (Air 81/12771) describes 'multiple casualties' and lists the crash site as Jenkinston, County Louth, Ireland.
CWGC lists 12 men from this Squadron as having died on 16 March 1942, presumably in the crash as the aircraft was on a ferry flight.
Aviation Safety Network has a very informative entry for the Liberator crash. This shows that a total of 19 (including Sergeant Morey) were aboard.
Four of these survived the crash with a variety of injuries, some serious.
At least one man died of his injuries on a later date. This may go some way to account for the discrepancy between the CWGC numbers killed (as a direct result of the crash) and those given in Aviation Safety Network Occurrence #176240.
Please see reference below.
Information on the Wartime NI website (see reference below) goes into more details of this crash
By co-incidence Flight Sergeant C S Goodenough and Pilot Officer G F King (both from No. 108 Squadron and casualties in the AL577 crash) were buried in graves next to those occupied by Hunter and Elliot.
Sources:
1. Bomber Command Losses 1942
2. CWGC (various pages)
3. Aviation Safety Network Occurrence #176240 at https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=176240
4. Details of the crash of Liberator AL577 can be found at https://archives.wartimeni.com/article/liberator-al577-crash-near-dundalk/
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 25 July 1941 | R1369 | 57 Sqn RAF | 4 | North Sea off Friesland |  |
w/o |
| 8 November 1941 | Z8903 | 57 Sqn RAF | 6 | North Sea probably off Alkmaar, Noord-Holland | |
w/o |
| 26 March 1942 | X3665 | 57 Sqn RAF | 6 | Nordrhein-Westfalen |  |
w/o |
| 27 July 1942 | Z1654 | 57 Sqn RAF | 5 | Großenaspe, Schleswig-Holstein | |
w/o |
| 27 July 1942 | X3653 | 57 Sqn RAF | 5 | Lemwerder, Niedersachsen | |
w/o |
| 29 July 1942 | Z1650 | 57 Sqn RAF | 6 | Niedersachsen | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Nov-2017 20:36 | Red Dragon | Added |
| 07-Nov-2018 19:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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