Date Posted:17/11/05 23:06:03 Author: Gordon Heasman Subject: Re: Handley Page Hastings Aircraft In reply to:
John 'Gary' Cooper
's message, "Handley Page Hastings Aircraft" on 9/02/03 20:50:27
I arrived at RAF Fayid (Canal Zone) in Jan 1953 just in time to see the funeral line-up of several Service menbers after the crash of a HP Hastings post-airtest(?). I understand that personnel consisted of RAF and 16th Independent Para Brigade. Any info on a/c number (TG6xx?) and incident?
Ken Gibbs was a Flight Engineer on an Avro Lincoln bomber aircraft flying around the Canal Zone, Egypt on the morning that Hastings TG602 crashed on 12/01/1953. 'We had passed TG602 several times as we were flying West of Shallufa to take photographs of an aircraft that had crashed, debris was spread over a wide area but unfortunately our photographer had failed to remove the cover on the camera lens.'
'Witnesses on the ground stated that they had seen the aircraft doing a tight turn and then parts of the aircraft started to fall off and it crashed into the ground at an angle of approx. 45 degrees. On the previous day we had visited the NAAFI Club at Ismailia with some older regular aircrew friends, we met the Hastings crew who were known to the older Lincoln crew members, the crew with a second crew and some passengers were on the Hastings that crashed'.
Sadly nine died in this accident, thought to be caused by elevator failure.
