Date:	Monday 30 December 1963
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	Solair Flying Services
Registration:	G-ALBC
MSN:	6572
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wove Hill, Kinder Scout, near Edale, Derbyshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Survey
Departure airport:	Middleton St. George, County Durham (MME/EGNV)
Destination airport:	Birmingham Airport, Elmdon, Birmingham
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
C/no.6572: Taken on charge as X7412 under Contract No B.104592/40 at 9 MU RAF Cosford 12.10.41. (2 x Gipsy Queen III engines #70102/70107) To 2 Delivery Flight, RAF Colerne 24.10.41. To De Havilland Witney for maintenance 24.5.43; to 18 MU RAF Dumfries 29.8.43. To 27 Group Comm Flight, Perdiswell 28.10.44; coded ‘TSO-A’. To De Havilland Witney for maintenance 29.3.46; returned to 18 MU Dumfries 15.1.47.

Sold 21.5.48 to Aeroways, Croydon. Registered as G-ALBC (C of R 12388) 27.5.48 to Arthur Wesley Coombs t/a Aeroways, Croydon. C of A 10188 issued 15.6.48. Cancelled 14.7.48 and registered 24.7.48 to Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd, London W.1 (aircraft based at Fairoaks). Cancelled 26.7.49 and re-registered 28.7.49 to Malcolm Hugh Dees McAlpine, West Malling (aircraft based at Croydon). New C of R No R.1098 issued in 1950. Cancelled 23.2.55 and re-registered 24.3.55 to Kenneth McAlpine, Sevenoaks (later Lamberhurst) (aircraft based at Croydon). Operated with effect from 12.57 by Luton Airways. Converted to Mk.6, 2.8.61. Operated with effect from 5.62 by Solair Flying Services Ltd, Baginton, Coventry. Cancelled 19.6.63 and re-registered 26.6.63 to Solair Flying Services Ltd, Birmingham.

Written off 30.12.63: The aircraft was on a flight from Middleton St. George to Birmingham, and the crew of one pilot and one photographer planned to complete several photographic survey jobs en route. Shortly after sunset, when flying at 2,000 ft. a.m.s.l. at an estimated position five miles west of Sheffield and near high ground rising to 2,000 ft. a.m.s.l., the pilot decided that the fuel remaining was insufficient to reach Birmingham with the existing headwind of 40 knots. He established contact with Manchester Approach Control and was given permission to divert to Manchester Airport on a special VFR clearance "not above 3,500 ft. a.m.s.l. on a QNH of 1013 mbs., clear of all cloud, and in sight of the surface". Shortly after this, when on a north-westerly heading to intercept a QDM of 270°M to the 'ME' (Manchester) beacon, the pilot saw hill tops about four miles ahead and commenced climbing from 2,000 ft. to 3,500 ft. The pilot states that the aircraft entered cloud at 2,500 ft. and that, on reaching 2,700 ft., he noticed that the vertical speed indicator was showing a descent of 2,000 ft./min. He states that he applied full power and eased the nose up but, after this, he remembers nothing further until he regained consciousness lying on the ground, alongside the photographer in front of the wrecked aircraft.

Examination at the scene of the accident showed that the aircraft had struck the ground, in a normal cruising attitude and at a low engine power setting, at a point 1,990 ft. a.m.s.l. An aftercast of the weather conditions showed that the cloud base over the hills at the time of the accident probably varied between 1,800 and 3,000 ft. a.m.s.l., the wind at 2,000 to 3,000 ft. was 240°/45-50 knots, and horizontal visibility was 1 1/2-3 n.m. with some turbulence over high ground. "Sigmet" warnings broadcast by Preston A.T.C.C, and in force at the time of the accident, gave warning that locally severe turbulence, up to FL 100 over high ground in the Preston FIR had been forecast. From the information available, however, it was not possible to determine whether significant downdraughts existed in the area where the crash occurred.Both crew on board - Captain Dennis Holmes (Pilot) and John McWhirter (Co-pilot) - survived but were injured.

Remains of the plane were burned on site because of difficulty of salvage from remote location. However, some wreckage (most notably the engines) was still present at the crash site in October 2011 (see link #7 for photo) . Registration G-ALBC formally cancelled 9.1.64 as "PWFU" ("Permanently Withdrawn From Use")

1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1064447/
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALBC-1.pdf
4. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALBC-2.pdf
4. http://www.stevelewis.me.uk/page17.php
5. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/peak-district/de-havilland-dragon-rapide-g-albc-kinder/
6. Survey of accidents to aircraft in the United Kingdom 1963/CAA
7. Picture of wreckage 17/10/2011: https://www.flickr.com/photos/callumd/6275871871
8. Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks pages 125-127 By Ron Collier, Roni Wilkinson

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
02-Jan-2012 09:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
04-Jan-2012 12:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Nov-2012 15:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Nature, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
27-May-2015 17:32	harro	Updated [Nature, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
11-Mar-2019 02:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Mar-2019 02:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
11-Mar-2019 02:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]