1954 Aldbury Valetta accident
 A Valetta T3 similar to WJ474 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 January 1954 |
| Site | Aldbury, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom 51°47′49.36″N 0°35′39.76″W / 51.7970444°N 0.5943778°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Vickers Valetta T3 |
| Operator | Royal Air Force |
| Registration | WJ474 |
| Flight origin | RAF Bovingdon, England |
| Destination | RAF Thorney Island, England |
| Passengers | 13 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 16 |
| Survivors | 1 |
On 6 January 1954 WJ474 a twin-engined Vickers Valetta training aircraft of No. 2 Air Navigation School Royal Air Force crashed near RAF Bovingdon just after takeoff in bad weather.[1][2]
Accident
The Valetta was authorised to carry out a pilot and navigation exercise from RAF Thorney Island to RAF Bovingdon and return. The flight was also to be used to transport a Rugby team for a match at RAF Halton.[3]
The aircraft had completed the first leg from Thorney Island to Bovingdon with 16 passengers without incident.[4] For the return flight an extra passenger was carried although the aircraft had only 16 passenger seats.[4] The pilot had not played in the Rugby match but the other crew members had.[4] The Valetta took off at 17:16 with a visibility of 1200 yards in snow.[4] The Valetta was seen to climb to about 400 feet then during a turn to the left it hit a tree five miles north of the airfield and crashed near Tom's Hill, Aldbury on part of the estate of the Ashridge Park National Trust.[3][4][5] The aircraft crashed onto a wooded slope when both engines were torn off. The fuselage continued for another 100 yards with a debris trail of wreckage and bodies.[5]
Rescue and aftermath
The wreckage was spread over two miles, with a cold north wind and ice and snow on the ground combined with a narrow access road made rescue difficult.
Investigation
The cause of the accident was not established, but the extra passenger and weather at takeoff did not contribute to the crash.[4] It was assumed that the pilot was trying to keep in eye contact with the ground in the poor visibility.[4] Verdicts of accidental death were returned for the sixteen victims at the coroner's inquest held at Berkhamsted.[6] The sole survivor[3] said at the inquest he could not remember anything after boarding the aircraft at Bovingdon.[6] The coroner said that before the aircraft departed "certain things were not done which should have been done. But the question of taking off was entirely a matter for the pilot to decide." "For some reason height was lost – no one knows why, no one will ever know. That caused the unfortunate crash. There was nothing wrong with the engines."[6]
See also
- List of sole survivors of airline accidents or incidents
References
Notes
- ^ Aviation Safety Network
- ^ Halley 2003, page 65
- ^ a b c "The Navigation School Accident". Flight International: 83. 15 January 1954. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Valetta Aircraft Crash, Aldbury". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 10 March 1954. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g "15 Killed in R.A.F. Crash". The Times. No. 52823. London. 7 January 1954. col A, p. 6.
- ^ a b c "Loss of Height Unexplained". The Times. No. 52869. London. 2 March 1954. col E, p. 2.
Bibliography
- Halley, James J (2003). Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100 to WZ999. ISBN 0-85130-321-8.