Downend air crash

Last updated

Downend Air Crash
Bristol 175 Britannia 312 G-AOVT BOAC Ringway 04.08.62 edited-3.jpg
A Bristol Britannia similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date6 November 1957 (1957-11-06)
SummaryUnknown cause
SiteDownend, near Bristol, UK
51°29′23″N2°30′39″W / 51.4897°N 2.5109°W / 51.4897; -2.5109 Coordinates: 51°29′23″N2°30′39″W / 51.4897°N 2.5109°W / 51.4897; -2.5109
Aircraft type Bristol Britannia Type 301
Operator Bristol Aeroplane Company
Registration G-ANCA
Passengers0
Crew15
Fatalities15
Injuries1 (On ground)
Survivors0

The Downend air crash occurred on 6 November 1957 when a prototype Bristol Britannia aircraft crashed in woods near Overndale Road in Downend, a suburb of Bristol, England, on its landing approach at Filton airport during a test flight. All fifteen on board, four crew and 11 technicians, died in the crash. [1]

Contents

Cause

The exact cause of the crash was never determined, but was suspected to be a malfunction of the autopilot, possibly due to faulty wiring. The company which manufactured the autopilot system issued a statement claiming it was not due to the autopilot system, but still altered the system in newer aircraft; the official report states unknown cause but "the autopilot system cannot be ruled out as the likely cause".

Another source cites the cause as "...an instrument failure which ultimately led to a loss of control." [2]

Casualties

All 15 aboard died in the crash. Despite the aircraft coming down in a residential area, nobody on the ground was killed. One woman, a resident of Overndale Road, was taken to hospital after being hurt by the impact blast when one of the engines and part of the wing landed next to her house while she was hanging washing on the line in the garden. [1] Another man, who at the time was tiling the roof of a nearby house, broke his arm after falling having been shocked by the aircraft's low flight path.

Memorials

Memorial plaque on Downend Folk House Memorial plaque, Downend Britannia air crash, Bristol, UK.jpg
Memorial plaque on Downend Folk House

A memorial service was held at Bristol Cathedral on 19 November 1957.

Commemorative events were held on 25th and 34th anniversaries, when the first memorial plaque listing the names of the dead was erected at Downend Folk House. [3] Downend Local History Society holds its meetings in the building, which have one of its rooms named Britannia Room. [4]

A memorial plaque at the crash site, now called Britannia Wood, was unveiled on 3 November 2007 by Beryl Statham, the pilot's widow. [5]

Related Research Articles

Bristol Britannia British four-engined turboprop airliner, 1952

The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the Commonwealth. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved susceptible to inlet icing, which delayed entry into service while solutions were sought.

British European Airways Flight 548 Passenger aircraft crash in 1972

British European Airways Flight 548 was a scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels that crashed near Staines, Middlesex, England, soon after take-off on 18 June 1972, killing all 118 people on board. The accident became known as the Staines air disaster. As of 2021, it remains the deadliest air accident in the United Kingdom and was the deadliest air accident involving a Hawker Siddeley Trident. Two passengers initially survived the impact but soon after died from their injuries.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1957:

Handley Page Hastings British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and built by the Handley Page Aircraft Company for the Royal Air Force

The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, the Hastings was the largest transport plane ever designed for the service.

Bristol Filton Airport

Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome was a private airport in Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire, 4 NM north of Bristol, England.

Short Solent

The Short Solent is a passenger flying boat that was produced by Short Brothers in the late 1940s. It was developed from the Short Seaford, itself a development of the Short Sunderland military flying boat design.

Pilot error Decision, action or inaction by a pilot of an aircraft

Pilot error generally refers to an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper action. Errors are intentional actions that fail to achieve their intended outcomes. Chicago Convention defines accident as "An occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft [...] in which [...] a person is fatally or seriously injured [...] except when the injuries are [...] inflicted by other persons." Hence the definition of the "pilot error" does not include deliberate crash.

United Airlines Flight 389 1965 aviation accident

United Airlines Flight 389 was a scheduled flight from LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York, to O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois. On August 16, 1965, at approximately 21:21 EST, the Boeing 727 crashed into Lake Michigan 20 miles (32 km) east of Fort Sheridan, near Lake Forest, while descending from 35,000 feet mean sea level (MSL). There was no indication of any unusual problem prior to impact.

Airbus Industrie Flight 129 1994 Aviation accident

Airbus Industrie Flight 129 was an Airbus Industrie A330-321 test flight that ended in a crash on 30 June 1994 at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, killing all seven people aboard. The last test flown was to certify the plane's takeoff capability with a single engine failure. It was the first fatal accident involving an Airbus A330 as well as the first hull loss of the type. It remained the only fatal accident involving an A330 until the crash of Air France Flight 447 on 1 June 2009.

XL Airways Germany Flight 888T 2008 aeroplane crash into the Mediterranean Sea

XL Airways Germany Flight 888T (GXL888T) was an acceptance flight for an Airbus A320 on 27 November 2008. The aeroplane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km off Canet-en-Roussillon on the French coast, close to the Spanish border, killing all seven people on board.

Colgan Air Flight 3407 2009 aviation accident in the U.S.

Colgan Air Flight 3407, marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407 under a codeshare agreement with Continental Connection, was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, which crashed on Thursday, February 12, 2009. The aircraft, a Bombardier Q400, entered an aerodynamic stall from which it did not recover, and crashed into a house in Clarence Center, New York, at 10:17 pm EST, killing all 49 passengers and crew on board, as well as one person inside the house.

1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash Aviation accident in England

The 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash occurred on the Isle of Wight in England on 15 November. With 45 lives lost, at the time it was the second worst aircraft accident within the United Kingdom, then at the time the worst ever air disaster to occur on English soil.

Sutton Wick air crash 1957 military transport crash in Berkshire, England

The Sutton Wick air crash occurred on 5 March 1957 when a Blackburn Beverley C Mk 1 heavy transport aircraft, serial number XH117, of 53 Squadron Royal Air Force crashed at Sutton Wick, Drayton, Berkshire, England, following a shut-down of one engine and partial loss of power on another. Shortly after take-off, No. 1 engine was shut down as a precautionary measure then whilst on final approach back to RAF Abingdon, No. 2 engine failed to respond to throttle inputs. The aeroplane struck cables and trees 18 minutes after lifting off.

First Air Flight 6560 Airline accident in Resolute, Nunavut, Canada

First Air Flight 6560 was a domestic charter flight that crashed on landing at Resolute, Nunavut, Canada, on 20 August 2011. Of the 15 people on board, 12 were killed and the remaining three were severely injured. The Boeing 737-200 of First Air was operating a service from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, when it struck a hill in cloud near Resolute Bay Airport.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 1968 aviation accident

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 was a regularly scheduled flight that crashed while attempting to land at Bradford Regional Airport in Bradford, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1968. Twenty of the 47 occupants on board were killed.

1993 Llyn Padarn helicopter crash

The 1993 Llyn Padarn helicopter crash occurred on 12 August 1993, when an RAF Westland Wessex helicopter, serial number XR524, with 3 crew and 4 passengers on board suffered a catastrophic tail rotor failure and plunged into Llyn Padarn, a lake in North Wales. Three passengers perished.

Air Algérie Flight 5017 July 2014 plane crash in Mali

Air Algérie Flight 5017 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, which crashed near Gossi, Mali, on 24 July 2014. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 twinjet with 110 passengers and 6 crew on board, operated by Swiftair for Air Algérie, disappeared from radar about fifty minutes after take-off. There were no survivors.

Boeing 737 MAX groundings March 2019 worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX following two fatal crashes in five months

The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 – longer in many jurisdictions – after 346 people died in two crashes, Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resisted grounding the aircraft until March 13, 2019, when it received evidence of accident similarities. By then, 51 other regulators had already grounded the plane, and by March 18, 2019, all 387 aircraft in service were grounded.

Loganair Flight 6780 Aviation incident in 2014

Loganair Flight 6780 was a scheduled domestic flight from Aberdeen Airport to Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. On 15 December 2014, the Saab 2000 operating the flight was struck by lightning during the approach, and then plunged faster than the aircraft's maximum operating speed. The aircraft came within 1,100 feet (340 m) of the ground before the pilots recovered and returned to Aberdeen. All 33 passengers and crew were unharmed.

References

  1. 1 2 "15 Killed in Britannia Test Flight Crash". News. The Times. No. 53992. London. 7 November 1957. col E, p. 10.
  2. "Accident Synopsis » 11061957". Airdisaster.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. Townsend, Paul (8 December 2007), The Downend Britannia Air Crash 1957 , retrieved 24 March 2019
  4. "Britannia Room: DOWNEND FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION". www.downendfolkhouse.org.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  5. BBC. "Downend crash remembered 50 years on". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2019.