Date:	Friday 11 September 1959
Time:	03:15
Type:	Vickers Valiant B(K)1
Owner/operator:	214 (Federated Malay States) Sqn RAF
Registration:	XD869
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	4 miles east of RAF Marham, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Marham, Norfolk (EGYM)
Destination airport:	RAF Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Flew into ground after night takeoff. This aircraft was on an in flight refuelling exercise and due to be air refuelled by other 214 Valiant(s) over Malta. The pilot was Flt. Lt C Watkins. I was a crew member of one of the these Malta Valiants. It was reported that the aircraft suffered a partial flap failure as it became airborne and Flt Lt Watkins lost control while trying to correct the resulting yaw by reducing t/o power at too low an altitude. According to an eyewitness report (see link #5). Enquiries by Patricia Parker (nee Sewell, Bob Sewell's daughter) eventually led to an explanation via RAF Marham's Chaplain over 40 years later that the artificial horizon had been refitted upside-down in the aircraft causing the crash. The RAF explained that they were hesitant to release this information to Pat because at one point they thought Bob was the one that fitted it incorrectly. Apparently this was not so (9)

"I was serving on 214 Squadron when this event occurred. I was a 22-year-old, Cpl. Air Radar technician at the time. I had joined the Squadron in February 1959. The Squadron was engaged in an ‘Exercise Sunspot’ for 6 weeks. Most of the A/C and personnel, including myself, were in Malta at RAF Luqa.

XD869 was scheduled to carry out a 'Lone Ranger' flight from RAF Marham to RAF Eastleigh (Nairobi). This would necessitate in-flight refuelling from the tanker A/C operating from Luqa.

I was assigned to the night shift that was to pre-flight, see off and then see in and after flight the two tankers operating from Luqa. I cannot recollect the time that the shift was scheduled to start, but it was brought forward and we were summoned from our accommodation about an hour early. We were told that this was because the weather at Marham was deteriorating and the schedule had been advanced to beat the weather.

I was the only Radar Fitter on the shift so I had to do both pre-flights. I had completed the inspection and signed the F700 of one A/C and while I was carrying out the 2nd pre-flight, one Cpl Greaves, an Armourer, came to the A/C to tell us that flying was scrubbed, ‘because of the weather at Marham’.

The shift then closed up the A/C and put the bung’s in the engines etc. and we went to an unexpected early night in bed. I believe that this was about 02:00 local time.

The following morning we were awakened by a very noisy day shift. This was most unusual as day workers normally respected the night workers rest period. They had heard on the radio that a Valiant had crashed at Marham.

We immediately assumed that this was why ‘our’ flight had been cancelled, awaiting an investigation.

The next we knew was when the morning newspapers arrived by civilian airline. The casualties were named in one paper; this told us that it was a 214 Sqdn. crew. The Crew Chief named was Chief Tech Bob Sewell. Bob was the Crew Chief of XD858, so we assumed that it was this A/C that had crashed.

About mid day, we had a Valiant fly in from Marham and we were assembled for a briefing where we learnt that the A/C involved was XD869.

All of the above are my recollections of the night, what follows is what I gleaned later, so I suppose it is hearsay, but it is 1st hand hearsay from other Sqdn. members.

As was normal for ‘Lone Ranger’ flights, two A/C were prepared and two air crews readied. Because of the schedule being advance very close to ETD. The spare aircrew did the A/C ‘walk around’ while the prime crew attended their briefing.

On ‘Lone Ranger’ flights, where the Crew Chief was flying in the A/C, another Crew Chief was assigned to do the actual seeing off. In this case Bob Sewell was the ‘other’ Crew Chief. The Crew Chief of XD869, whose name escapes me, was suffering from a heavy cold or ‘flu, so asked Bob to take his place on the ‘Lone Ranger’. Bob went home to his family in Married Quarters to pack a bag and promised to bring home some pineapples for his kids. The ‘Lone Rangers’ to Eastleigh were known as ‘the pineapple run’.

I know that the person that did the Radar pre-flight was one Cpl Mick Dunn, as he later told me how worried he was about having done a pre-flight on an A/C that crashed. Mick later became a navigator and was commissioned. He came from Leeds.

The Officer Commanding 214 Squadron at the time was Wing Commander Mike Beetham DFC, he later became Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham GCB, CBE, DFC, AFC, DL, FRAes."

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.201 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 20)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/420: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424541
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/38/S2954: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578734
5. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/358970-valiant-xd869-crash-marham-1959-a.html#post4700284
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XD
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Valiant#Accidents_and_incidents
8. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/358970-valiant-xd869-crash-marham-1959-a-2.html
9. Mark Fuller, Bob Sewell's Grandson, Lismore, NSW, Australia

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Mar-2009 12:19	madcat11	Added
22-Aug-2011 12:41	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
30-Sep-2013 15:35	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Apr-2015 15:29	baturner	Updated [Narrative]
27-Jan-2020 01:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Jan-2020 08:31	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Mar-2021 16:59	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]