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Date: | Wednesday 27 June 1951 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Avro 701 Athena T.2 |
Owner/operator: | AIEU RAF |
Registration: | VR569 |
MSN: | 1519 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | ½ mile north of Wilby, near Stradbroke, Suffolk -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Training |
Departure airport: | RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Avro 701 Athena T.Mk.2 VR569, AIEU (Aircraft Instrument Examinations Unit), RAF: Written off (destroyed) 27/6/51 when crashed ½ mile north of Wilby, near Stradbroke, Suffolk. Both crew on board were killed.
The aircraft was undertaking an instrument rating sortie from RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk, when it was seen to emerge from cloud in a spiral dive. Parts of the airbrake were seen to come away from the aircraft, and it crashed ½ mile north of Wilby, near Eye, Suffolk. According to some (unconfirmed) sources, one of the wings may have folded up or broke off in flight. The reasons for the structural failure in flight were not discovered
Crew of Athena VR569:
Flying Officer John Reginald Corke RAF (Instructor Pilot, Armament & Instrument Experimental Unit)
Sergeant James Ellis Walsh (Student Pilot Under Instruction)
The reported crash location of Wilby is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England located around 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Diss and 1.25 miles (2 km) south of Stradbroke along the B1118.
Athena VR569 was the only example of this aircraft type to acquire a civilian registration. It was civil registered (C of R 14883/1; C of A 10797) on 19/12/49 as G-ALWA to the Ministry of Supply, Millbank, London SW.1 for a sales tour of India. (See links #7 & #8 for photos as such). No orders were forthcoming, and the aircraft returned to Croydon on 13/5/50; the registration G-ALWA was cancelled 11/7/50 as "returned to military marks". As VR569, it was demonstrated at the SBAC Farnborough Air Show in September 1950 in a final attempt to generate orders, but to no avail; the RAF preferred the Boulton Paul Balliol. As VR569, it was formally Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(scrap) 30/11/51.
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.114 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 151
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/58:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424179 4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2534:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578380 5.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VR 6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Athena#Accidents_and_incidents 7.
https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=211 8.
https://www.airhistory.net/photo/7962/G-ALWA 9.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-A-V-Roe/Avro-701-Athena-T2/2034462 10.
https://rafinsuffolk.activeboard.com/t33356617/aircraft-accidents/?page=2#comment-33404445 11.
https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALWA.pdf 12.
http://www.aviationbanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=70092&d=1410696823 13.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilby,_Suffolk Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
28-Dec-2019 22:34 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
28-Dec-2019 22:39 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
29-Dec-2019 19:21 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Operator, Operator] |
29-Sep-2020 09:54 |
Uli Elch |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Country, Destination airport] |
09-Jan-2021 09:50 |
TB |
Updated [Operator, Country, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator] |