Date Posted: 8/08/06 7:48:33 Author:John Cooper Subject: Re: RAF Hastings Crash In reply to:
John Cooper
's message, "Re: RAF Hastings Crash" on 5/08/06 8:18:42
Derek
Laurie Bean from Malaysia has forwarded this to me:
I think this incident relates to the crash of Vickers Valetta C1, VW832 on 17 April 1957. The aircraft crashed near Quweira, 19 miles north of Aqaba. The details recorded in Colin Cummings book 'To Fly No More', are as follows:
The aircraft was an 84 Sqn machine, being flown by a 114 Sqn crew and tasked to ferry Army personnel from Aqaba to Habbaniya in Iraq as part of of the general withdrawal of British forces from Jordan. About 7 minutes after take-off the aircraft was seen to dive into the ground and to be completely destroyed by fire. The cause of the accident was the failure of the port wing main spar outboard of the engine, caused by severe turbulence. It is possible that the pilot lost control and whilst recovering, exceeded the 145 knots limit for turbulence penetration speed and may have used the controls harshly which contributed to the structural failure.
All on board, 3 RAF and 24 Army personnel, were killed in the crash. Sgt Peter John McCarthy was the Air Signaller on the crew.
