ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 18764
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| Date: | Friday 27 September 1946 |
| Time: | 13:25 LT |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide |
| Owner/operator: | Railway Air Services |
| Registration: | G-AFFF |
| MSN: | 6386 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Craigton Hill, 2½ miles N of Milngavie, 7 miles N of Renfrew, Ayrshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Islay Airport, Port Ellen, Islay, Argyll and Bute |
| Renfrew Airport, Newmains, Glasgow | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no.6386: First flown 13.1.38. Registered G-AFFF [C of R 8354] 24.2.38 to The De Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd, Hatfield. C of A 6222 issued 16.3.38. Registered [C of R 8660] 27.7.38 to Railway Air Services Ltd. Croydon; named "Juno". Transferred to Scottish Airways Ltd, Renfrew 26.5.39 (but not re-registered to them).
Destroyed 27.9.46 when it flew into high ground in bad weather on Craigton Hill, 2 ½ miles North of Milngavie, Dunbartonshire, and 7 miles North of Renfrew; The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Port Ellen (Islay) to Renfrew airport operated by Scottish Airways on behalf of British European Airways, having completed the outward flight earlier in the day. It had taken off from Port Ellen at 12:26 and arrived in the Glasgow area at 12:59 when the radio operator contacted Renfrew to state they were flying above cloud at 7,000ft. A series of QDMs were obtained from Renfrew and these showed that the aircraft was approaching the airfield from the North East. It passed over the airfield and turned to the south flying an elliptical course back over Renfrew in a north westerly direction.
The final QDMs indicated that the pilot had started a left-hand turn, the aircraft must have continued with this turn until it was heading back in a northerly direction as it then headed north at low level, where it was briefly glimpsed flying in low cloud. Shortly after the aircraft flew into rising ground on the southern side of Craigton Hill to the west of Milngavie killing all onboard.
The series of QDMs had been interrupted by the arrival in the area of a second Dragon Rapide which was also requesting navigational assistance after its pilot made a comment about remaining fuel to his radio operator. While the AIB concluded that this had been a factor in the accident, it had not made the crash inevitable.
The crash had not been witnessed, though one person had heard it without knowing it was a crash, but shortly afterwards the cloud which was obscuring Craigton Hill lifted sufficiently for the wreckage to be visible from Tambowie Farm. The farmer, who was in one of the lower fields, saw a white object on the hillside which should not have been there. He asked his son to go to find out what the object was, not knowing it was a crashed aircraft. Before reaching the crash site the farmer’s son realised it was an aircraft and returned back down the hill to tell his father who then asked him to telephone the Police before he went to the site himself. Once at the site he realised that there had been no survivors and went back to the farm to meet the authorities and lead them back to the site. By the time the Police arrived the cloud had closed in again and it took them sometime to relocate the crash site.
As G-AFFF failed to arrive, SAR operations were conducted and its wreckage was found on the slope of Craighton Hill, near Milngavie, north of Glasgow. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire and all 7 occupants were killed.
Crew:
Captain Fredrick Stephens, pilot,
Alexander McKinlay Calvert, navigator and radio operator
Passengers:
Alexander Jamieson (Corporal, Royal Engineers)
James Stweart Crombie,
John McKay,
George Beattie,
Derek Farquar Mills (Acting Sub-Lieutenant, RNVR)
Captain Stephens had only been working for Scottish Airways for a short time, having begun flying from Renfrew on the 17th September. Two days before the crash his fiancée had moved up to Paisley from Cambridgeshire, the two were due to marry shortly after the crash.
Sub Lieutenant Mills, who was assigned to HMS Vernon, had been to Islay to make safe an unexploded sea mine and was returning to Greenock where he was stationed as a bomb disposal officer at the R.N. Boom Defence Depot.
Corporal Jamieson was returning from a short period of leave with his family on Islay, they had gone there on holiday from Liverpool.
James Crombie and John McKay were both electricians who was returning home to the Glasgow area after completing contracted work on Islay, Mr Crombie had been on the island for about five weeks, while Mr McKay had gone there on the 10th September.
George Beattie was a Branch Representative for the Prudential Assurance Co. and also, been to Islay on business. He had been living in Hillhead and his body was initially identified by the owner of the house he had been staying at, because he did not have any contact details for Mr Beattie’s ex-wife. She discovered the fate of her former husband in the Glasgow Herald on the 28th September and was able to confirm the earlier identification.
Cause: The crew probably lost their orientation on approach to Renfrew Airfield and continued to the northwest without making any visual contact with the airport. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were poor with low visibility. However, it was determined that the distress call from the copilot of the second aircraft was unfounded as there was sufficient fuel in the tanks for at least one hour flight.
The captain of G-ADAJ asked his copilot to cancel the distress call but he failed to do so and obtained the priority to land. In the meantime, as the radio contact was lost with the first aircraft, it is believed that his crew misinterpreted some instructions transmitted from ATC to the second aircraft and continued to the north without knowing his real position.
Registration G-AFFF cancelled 31.12.46 as "destroyed"
Sources:
1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/component/content/article?id=80
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AFFF.pdf
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A10.html
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89-dragon-rapide-milngavie-7-killed
6. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/de-havilland-dragon-rapide-g-afff-craigton-hill/
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/842: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C574996
8. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/874: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C575028
9. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/AMIL-Accidents-Aug-1944-Jul-1950.pdf
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Air_Services#Accidents_and_incidents
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilpatrick_Hills
Media:
Day 19 of our AFH Advent Calendar and today's Header Photograph is of Railway Air Services De Havilland Dragon Rapide G-AFFF at c.1939. #afhadventcalendar #dragonrapide #railwayairservices pic.twitter.com/gitGNw24qH
— A Flying History Ltd (@AFlyingHistory) December 19, 2018
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 28-Dec-2011 09:30 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Feb-2018 13:29 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Feb-2019 21:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Feb-2019 14:07 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 05-Mar-2019 19:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code] |
| 07-Dec-2019 19:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 12-Dec-2019 16:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 31-May-2023 18:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[Source]] |
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