ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25084
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| Date: | Sunday 15 February 1942 |
| Time: | 08:50 |
| Type: |  Consolidated B-24A Liberator Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) |
| Registration: | G-AGDR |
| MSN: | 9 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | English Channel, off the Eddystone Lighthouse, SSW of Plymouth, Devon -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger |
| Departure airport: | RAF Almaza, Cairo, Egypt |
| RAF Hurn, Dorset |
AM918 (ex 40-2357) s/no. 9 was converted to Liberator C.Mk.I and assigned to the RAF Ferry Command. Assigned to BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) with registration G-AGDR. In May 1941, it was delivered to England by Ferry Command (Pilot: W/C John Francis).
On 24–25 January 1942, B-24 Liberator AM918 (after being transfered to BOAC with civil registry G-AGDR) flew nonstop from Hurn to Cairo. However, on its return trip, it was shot down in error by a Spitfire over the English Channel, off the Eddystone Lighthouse, 23 Km south-south-west of Plymouth on 15 February 1942 with all nine on board killed, including BOAC Captain R.H. Page, four other crew members and four passengers.
Known fatalities:
Captain John Alexander Stuart Hunter (Pilot)
Captain Robert Humphrey Page, (2nd Pilot),
Horace Reginald John Spicer, (Flight Engineer, aged 31)
Flying Officer Richard John Williamson (First Officer)
Hubert Frace Parker (Radio Operator)
Brigadier Frederick Morris CB MC Royal Army Ordnance Corps (passenger)
Lt Col Townsend Griffiths US Army Air Corps (passenger)
Lt Charles L.M. Vine, Royal Naval Reserve (passenger)
Harold Edward Bell (passenger, believed civilian Rolls Royce representative)
According to a contemporary news paper report (The Times, Feb 21,1943, p.2):
"BRITISH AIR LINER'S CRASH - PASSENGERS' IDENTITY.
From our Aeronautical Correspondent.
Two of the four passengers killed when a British Overseas Airways Corporation aircraft crashed into the sea off the south coast of England recently when nearing the end of a flight to this country have now been identified. They are Brigadier Frederick Morris, of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and Lieutenant C.L.M.Vine, R.N.R.. A third man was a senior United States Army officer, and the fourth is believed to have been a civilian employed by a British aircraft company.
The crew of five, who were killed, were:-
Captain R.Humphrey Page (first pilot), Captain J.A.S.Hunter (second pilot), First Officer R.J.Williamson, Engineer Officer H.R.J.Spicer, and Radio Officer H.F.Parker.
Brigadier Morris served in France throughout the last war, was mentioned in dispatches and decorated twice. He was given a War Office appointmant in 1929 and was on the headquarters staff of Western Command.
Captain Humphrey Page was an Empire flying-boat pilot. He was born at Great Clacton, Essex, in 1911, and educated at the Nautical College, Pangbourne. After service in the R.A.F., he joined the Imperial Airways in 1936. He had recently been engaged on the Atlantic ferry service. Captain Hunter, who was 28, was born at Leicester and served in the R.A.F. before joining Imperial Airways in 1937. Until the outbreak of war he flew on the European service to Paris and Budapest, but since the war had been engaged on Atlantic ferrying.
RAF said the Spitfire pilot was a Polish citizen who misinterpreted the aircraft and thought it was an enemy airplane. Following this tragedy, RAF Authorities increased the aircraft reconnaissance training to avoid such situation".
Considering wartime censorship restrictions, the above report is surprisingly explicit! As the bodies of the above nine persons on board were never found nor recovered, they are mostly commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial; the exception being Brigadier Morris, who is commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial.
The Eddystone or Eddystone Rocks are a seaswept and eroded group of rocks ranging 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Rame Head in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Although the nearest point on the mainland to the Eddystone is in Cornwall, the rocks fall within the city limits of Plymouth, and hence within the county of Devon. The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse that is located on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, 9 statute miles (14 km) south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea
Registration G-AGDR formally cancelled by the CAA on 15.2.42 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"
Sources:
1. The Times, February 21,1943, p.2
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Liberator_I#Aircraft
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AGDR.pdf
4. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1940.html
5. http://www.rafb24.com/index.php/the-liberator/b-24indetail/4586-consolidated-b-24a-liberatorlb-30b
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-consolidated-b-24a-co-liberator-plymouth-9-killed
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1800788/john-alexander-stuart-hunter/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1803744/robert-humphrey-page/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1807758/horace-reginald-john-spicer/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1531740/richard-john-williamson/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/3168799/harold-edward-bell/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/75228856/hubert-france-parker/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2184505/frederick-morris/
14. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1942-02FEB.htm
15. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?4898-BOAC-Liberator-G-AGDR-15-2-42
16. http://www.rafdavidstowmoor.com/pages/crash_log/crashlog42.html
17. https://www.shipsproject.org/Wrecks/Wk_Ac_Liberator_AM918.html
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Rocks
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 11-Jan-2012 15:17 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Jun-2013 11:55 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Jun-2013 12:03 | Uli Elch | Updated [Narrative] |
| 02-Mar-2014 22:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-May-2015 13:50 | DB | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
| 14-Feb-2022 11:59 | TigerTimon | Updated [Other fatalities] |
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