ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 57349
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| Date: | Wednesday 14 July 1965 |
| Time: | 13:20 LT |
| Type: |  English Electric Canberra B.(I) 6 |
| Owner/operator: | 213 (Ceylon) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | WT324 |
| MSN: | 71489 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Roermond, Limburg -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Bruggen, Germany |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Engine failure after ingested unknown bird type into engine and spun into ground from a height of approximately 100 metres at a speed of 130 knots. The three crew were killed:
Flying Officer Thomas Francis CLAPP (Pilot) - killed
Flight Lieutenant Leslie Dennis DINGLE (Navigator) - killed
Flying Officer Hugh Mands SIME (Navigator) - killed
Both navigators ejected. Both died. Ejection height too low. The remains of the three pilots were transferred by ambulance to St. Laurentius Hospital Roermond. Per eyewitness report:
"I had gone outside to check the weird sound that this airplane made, not the usual wining of a Canberra that we were so familiar with. living close to Bruggen. I saw a plane coming straight at me, 500m away, at 50 m height.
With my knees frozen of fear I fled into the house, but the plane did not fall on top of us, it was turned to it's left and crashed in an orchard at a 100 m from us, just clear of two farmhouses.
I often wondered whether the pilot saw me, and whether he had any control over the plane in his last moments. The pilot did not bail out but stayed in the plane. The two others jumped out and fell to their death, I realised later that it was them two persons that I saw falling off the plane.
My friend and I immediately ran to rescue, through the backyards and the backside of the orchard.
We found nothing but bits and pieces, debris, fire, smoke and ammunition sizzling. However, for reasons known to him, I'd love to talk to another witness to that scene, a british army person that too came running to rescue, from the street-side of the site, where an RAF rescue team had already arrived.
I remember that this man was crying, he led us away to the road because of the ammunition going off, he said."
Pilot avoided buildings (so it would seem). The crashing plane touched the house of the family Joosten. The main part of the Canberra bomber crashed, the fuselage, wing pulverized remains in the orchard of bakers A. Beckers
At a memorial service in 1995 at the village just outside of Roermond where the crash took place, the whole village turned out to pay their respects, there is some thought that the pilot stayed in the plane so it would not crash into a row of houses with a horrific loss of life.
Sources:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/377256-canberra-crash-near-roermond-11-jun-68-a.html
http://www.maasniel.nl/Diversen/vliegtuig_crach_1965/vliegtuig_crash_1965.htm
http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1965.htm
https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=52245
[LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/birds/birdstrikes.htm]
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Jan-2009 11:55 | ASN archive | Added |
| 11-Apr-2013 21:42 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-May-2013 20:31 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
| 27-Sep-2013 09:19 | Anon. | Updated [Total fatalities] |
| 18-Jun-2022 10:54 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
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