Date:	Friday 24 October 1958
Time:	15:43
Type:	Avro Vulcan B Mk I
Owner/operator:	83 Sqn RAF
Registration:	XA908
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	187 Ashland Road, Detroit, Michigan -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	CAF Goose Bay, Labrador
Destination airport:	Lincoln AFB, Nebraska
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The Vulcan had carried out a bombing exercise over the Great Lakes area of the USA and was cruising at 47,000 feet when it suffered a loss of flight controls due to an apparent total electrical failure.

A MAYDAY call was made at 20:35 Z (GMT) to Cleveland Approach Control on 118.1 Mhz saying that the aircraft was descending through 40,000 feet and had lost all electrics.

Although the engine generators continued to supply electrical power a short in the main busbar blocked the supply to the aircraft systems. This shouldn't have been a problem as the plane's batteries were designed to supply power for 20 minutes, but on this occasion only lasted three. At the start of the emergency the Captain requested an emergency descent to Kellogg Field Michigan, but when battery power was lost the flying controls ceased to operate at which point the Captain requested directions to the nearest airfield. Since the controls were inoperative the jet bomber flew into the ground at a 60 degree angle.

At 20:43Z the Vulcan, in a near-vertical dive, crashed in a residential area of Detroit at 187 Ashland Road, not far from the shoreline of Lake Saint Clair.

Damage was done to houses and vehicles in the vicinity but there were no reports of casualties on the ground.
The co-pilot Flt Lt Brian Peacock ejected unsuccessfully. His ejection seat was found in the lake near the shore, some 5,000 feet from the crash point, and his body was located on the 19th of June, 1959 in shallow water some distance away from the seat. No other crew members appear to have been able to abandon the aircraft.

Crew fatalities:
Flight Lt John Willoughby-Moore (Pilot).
Flight Lt Brian Peacock (Co-pilot).
Squadron Leader Harvey J. Scull (Navigator).
Flight Lt James D.Watson (Navigator).
Flying Officer Anthony D. Baker. (AEO - Air Electronics Officer),
Chief Technician Edward C. Evison (Crew Chief).

Crew members’ body parts and aircraft wreckage were strewn over a seven-block area and five houses were either destroyed or had to be extensively rebuilt. Incredibly, no other people were killed in the crash, due in large part to the near vertical descent of the Vulcan. Had it met its fate at a more horizontal altitude, the wreckage field would certainly have been catastrophic.

The fragmented remains of the crew of XA908 were buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, near the 11 British airmen who were killed in training accidents at Grosse Ile during the Second World War. Every Memorial Day, small Union Jacks are placed at the grave sites.

After extensive investigation, the electrical bus bar of all remaining Avro Vulcans was divided into two to prevent another such occurrence.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.197 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 9)
3. The Vulcan Story by Tim Laming ISBN 1-85409-148-4
4. Youngstown Vindicator 25 October 1958, p1+2
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/405: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424526
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/38/S2929: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578709
7. https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/remembering-the-avro-vulcan
8. http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/July-2008/Mayday/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1
9. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/79263-vulcan-xa908-crash-michigan-usa-1958-a.html
10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/74795365@N07/6930567942/
11. http://wikimapia.org/6447594/Crash-Site-RAF-Vulcan-24-October-1958
12. https://pacaeropress.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2550140
13. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1958.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Apr-2009 18:26	angels one five	Updated
22-Aug-2011 13:15	Uli Elch	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
12-Mar-2012 05:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Mar-2012 03:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source]
11-May-2012 17:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
17-Aug-2012 03:18	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Embed code]
17-Apr-2013 07:04	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative]
26-Jun-2013 18:35	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
05-Feb-2014 16:06	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
26-Jun-2014 23:06	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
20-Feb-2017 21:12	TB	Updated [Operator]
10-Dec-2017 21:34	TB	Updated [Source]
19-Oct-2019 16:45	Vulcanicman	Updated [Narrative]
24-Jan-2020 23:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
25-Jan-2020 14:51	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
15-Feb-2022 08:00	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]