ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 29224
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| Date: | Friday 27 June 1947 |
| Time: | 18:07 |
| Type: | Miles M.57 Aerovan 4 |
| Owner/operator: | Ulster Aviation Ltd |
| Registration: | G-AJOB |
| MSN: | 6409 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Irish Sea, 5 miles South East of South Rock Lighthouse -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Woodley Airfield, Reading, Berkshire |
| Newtownards, Northern Ireland (EGAD) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
First civil registered as G-AJOB (C of R 11465/1; C of A 9293) to Miles Aircraft Co Ltd., Newtownards Airfield, County Down, Northern Ireland. Sold on and re-registered (C of R 11465/21) to Ulster Aviation Ltd., Newtownards Airfield, County Down.
Written off 27 June 1947: Crashed into the Irish Sea 5 miles southeast of South Rock Lighthouse N°1 after failure of the port engine. The aircraft struck the water tail first, and overturned. Both crew managed to escape from the aircraft, and sat on the port wing awaiting rescue - which arrived two hours later when a passing vessel arrived.
A report in "Flight" magazine (October 30th 1947, page 503) has a fuller transcript of the official air Ministry accident report:
"The second Accident Report concerns the Miles Aerovan Mark IV G-AJOB owned by the Ulster Aviation Company, Ltd., and chartered by Miles Aviation, Ltd., Northern Ireland. At the time of the accident it was engaged in flying a cargo of freight from Woodley Airfield to Newtownards. Northern Ireland. The accident occurred five miles S.E. of South Rock Lighthouse on June 27th at 18.07 hours. The crew, Captain B. N. Lyttle and Navigator Mr. L. G. Lewsey, were uninjured.
Prior to the flight the pilot obtained a meteorological report and the aircraft movement was cleared by C.A.C. Uxbridge. When the aircraft left. Woodley Aerodrome at 15.30 hours it had 70 gall, of fuel on board Good weather conditions prevailed. At 18.00 hours when flying at a height of 500 ft the pilot heard a change in the engine note and at once proceeded to check all instrument readings, observing that the oil pressure gauge for the port engine was reading "zero."
Captain Lyttle thereupon opened up the starboard engine to full revolutions, at the same time closing the port engine throttle. As height was being lost, the pilot sought to maintain altitude by flying at varying air speeds. These attempts were unsuccessful, and thinking that possibly only the oil pressure gauge was faulty, he gradually opened up the port engine to 1,800 revolutions, whereupon extremely violent vibration occurred and it was necessary again to close the throttle.
As the aircraft continued to lose height, the Captain instructed Mr. Lewsey to kick out the windows and endeavour to jettison the cargo. Immediately following this the aircraft lost safety speed, resulting in the pilot having to abandon his attempt to remain airborne. A ditching being imminent, Captain Lyttle closed the starboard throttle and selected flaps down, at the same time warning Mr. Lewsey that they were about to ditch. Owing to the glass-like surface of the sea, the pilot was unable to estimate his exact height and assumed that the aircraft hit the water in a tail-down attitude. After impact the aircraft turned over and settled on the water in an inverted position.
Both the occupants were thrown clear and eventually took up station on the inverted mainplane. At 20.10 hours, approximately 2 hours after the crash, both were picked up by the S.S. 'Colwith Force'."
Registration G-AJOB cancelled by the UK CAA on 28/7/1947 as "crashed 27/6/1947"
Sources:
1. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/1743: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C575897
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AJOB.pdf
3. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-miles-m57-aerovan-iv-cloughey
4. Flight magazine 30th October 1947 p 503-504: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1947/1947%20-%201905.PDF
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 04-Dec-2012 13:10 | TB | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Other fatalities, Country, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 04-Dec-2012 15:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Dec-2012 11:54 | TB | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 26-Apr-2013 07:16 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Jun-2013 17:44 | TB | Updated [Location] |
| 27-Nov-2019 19:43 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Nov-2019 19:45 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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