ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 208497
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| Date: | Friday 21 July 1939 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk 1c |
| Owner/operator: | 148 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | L4290 |
| MSN: | 35550 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Milborne Port, near Yeovil, Somerset, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Stradishall, Suffolk |
| RAF Stradishall, Suffolk | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Wellington I L4290: Took off for cross-country exercise from Stradishall to Plymouth and back. 21/07/1939
Dived into the ground out of cloud at Milborne Port, near Yeovil, Somerset.
Crew:
F/O York Plant Wilson (pilot) RAF killed
P/O Ivor Russell Barton (pilot) RAF killed
AC1 James Alexander Lowery (WOp/AG) RAF killed
The crew was performing a training mission and en route, while cruising in clouds, the pilot-in-command initiated a turn when he lost control of the airplane that nosed down and crashed in a field located in Milborne Port. All three crew members were killed.
Probable cause: The initial conclusion of the court of enquiry was that the inexperienced Barton was at the controls at the time of the crash and that he had lost control when trying to turn out of a cloud. Significantly the court also recorded that the Wellington had a tendency to become nose-heavy in a turn, that would develop quickly into a dive from which it could take considerable height to recover. These were early days for the Wellington and later it was discovered that it suffered from ‘rudder overbalance’ that caused the rudder to lock to one side and the aircraft to enter an unrecoverable spiral dive.
Villagers in picturesque Milbourne Port first heard an aircraft making ‘a loud whining noise’, before they saw an aircraft then came out of cloud and dived straight into the ground a few hundred yards east of the cemetery. An explosion shook the ground and the glow of a fire lit up the surrounding hills.
Wellington L4290 had crashed, taking it three man crew to their deaths.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
3. http://www.aviationarchaeology.co.uk/AA/ex10_Wellington_Dorset.html
4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/67251416@N08/sets/72157632555399528/
5. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=23023
6. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?103381-First-loss-Wellington-dig
7. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576874
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152132445/ivor-russell-barton
9. https://www.stcuthberts-durham.org.uk/archives/3745
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milborne_Port
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Mar-2018 18:50 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 02-Jul-2023 20:51 | Nepa | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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