Date:	Monday 1 July 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk X
Owner/operator:	10 AGS RAF
Registration:	LP764
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Eglinton, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Destination airport:	RAF Andreas, Isle of Man

Narrative:
Vickers Wellington Mk. X LP764, 10 AGS (Air Gunnery School), RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) 01-07-1946: En-route from RAF Eglinton, Londonderry, Northern Ireland to RAF Andreas, Isle of Man, while overflying the Irish Sea, the aircraft failed to arrive, and overdue action was taken. A search and rescue mission was mounted, during which Avro Anson MG437 was lost in the Irish Sea the next day off the Isle of Man, while searching for the Wellington, with all five crew on board (which see).

The actual cause of the loss of Wellington LP764 was never determined, but was suspected to be that the aircraft flew into the Irish Sea west of the Isle of Man after losing sight of the horizon in poor visibility. Both of the crew were killed, but their bodies were washed ashore, and recovered for burial:

Crew of Wellington LP764:
Flying Officer Robert Gray (Pilot, aged 24) Service Number 191697 - killed on active service 01/07/1946, buried at St. Mary's Churchyard, Walney Island, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumberland
Flight Lieutenant Richard Colin Flower (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, aged 27, New Zealander) Service Number 405477 - killed on active service 01/07/1946, buried at Glebe Cemetery, Stranraer, Wigtownshire

Additional: A local newspaper ("Barrow News" 4 July 1946) reported on the incident as follows:

"Walney Victims of Air Crash
It is officially reported that two Walney airmen are missing on a practice flight from Northern Ireland on Monday. They are Pilot-Officer R. Gray, of 17, Queen- street, Barrow, and Flight-Lieut. Flower, of Ashburton, Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. [Source He is buried in Stranraer (Glebe) Cemetery]

Pilot-Officer Gray, aged 24, a native of Bath, was due to be demobbed next Wednesday.

Mrs. Gray was formerly Miss Wilkinson, a member of a well-known Barrow family.

Twenty-eight years old, Flt. Lieut. Flower was senior gunnery officer at Walney, and one of the few remaining New Zealand airmen in the country."

The same newspaper reported on 20 July 1946 on the recovery of the body of F/O Grey:

"Echo of Air Crash
Body of Walney R.A.F. Officer Recovered
The body of an airman washed up near Workington on Monday, was identified by R.A.F. personnel on Walney Island as that of Flying Officer R. Gray, of 17, Queen-street, Barrow.

It may be recalled that Flying Officer Gray was the pilot of a Wellington bomber which disappeared on the return journey of a practice flight between N. Ireland and the Isle of Man on Monday, 1 July.

The other occupant of the plane, Flight-Lieut. Flower, a New Zealander, is still missing. A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest which was held at Workington on Monday night. Documents which had been found on the body were produced to establish Flying-Officer Gray’s identity."

1. Barrow News 4July 1946 (report of crash)
2. Barrow News 20 July 1946 (report of recovery of one of the crew)
3. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.37. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
4. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.170
5. Air Britain: RAF Aircraft LA100 - LZ999, published 1991
6. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.100: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-440-wellington-x-irish-sea-2-killed
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2700886/gray,-robert/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2455874/flower,-richard-colin/
10. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=15036
11. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C33968
12. https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/richard-colin-flower
13. https://furnessstoriesbehindthestones.co.uk/stories/gray-robert/
14. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154569992/robert-gray
15. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69220778/richard-colin-flower
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Andreas#Post-war_and_closure

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
29-Dec-2011 12:18	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Country, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative]
27-Apr-2017 21:41	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
06-Nov-2019 21:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2019 22:23	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
13-Nov-2019 17:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
13-Nov-2019 21:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
15-Nov-2019 18:50	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
28-Jul-2021 16:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]