Date:	Friday 17 December 1954
Time:	night
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk III
Owner/operator:	School of Maritime Reconnaissance RAF
Registration:	RF290
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Celtic Sea, off Lands End, Cornwall, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF St. Eval, Cornwall
Destination airport:	RAF St. Eval, Cornwall
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The crew left RAF Saint Eval, Cornwall on 17-12-1954 to conduct a training mission consisting of a submarine attack. In unknown circumstances, the aircraft crashed into the Celtic Sea off the Cornwall coast. All seven crew members were killed. As there were no survivors, there were also no witnesses. However, the aircraft was last recorded at position 49.10" North, 07.12" West, and is presumed to have dived into the sea due to loss of control due to mechanical failure at or near that location.

Crew of Lancaster RF290:
Flight Lieutenant Stanley Thomas Rice (Captain/Staff Pilot, Service Number 57045, aged 33)
Pilot Officer Anthony Meredith (Student Pilot, aged 21)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Arthur Kemshall (Navigator, aged 30)
Flight Sergeant William Alan Clare DFC (aged 31)
Sergeant Trevor James Burgess (aged 23)
Sergeant Peter Leitch
Sergeant Thomas John Lockyer Robinson (aged 25)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.167 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.106
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-683-lancaster-mr3-celtic-sea-7-killed
5. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39925/supplement/4121/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
21-May-2010 11:32	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Other fatalities]
21-May-2010 13:18	TB	Updated [Operator]
21-May-2010 13:19	TB	Updated [Nature]
04-Mar-2012 14:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Oct-2018 01:12	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Location, Country, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Apr-2020 22:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
29-Apr-2020 08:21	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator]
01-May-2020 00:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
01-May-2020 09:56	BlB	Updated [Operator, Operator]