Date:	Wednesday 23 October 1946
Time:	13:00 LT
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk I
Owner/operator:	BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF
Registration:	HK762
MSN:	BC-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk. I, HK762/BC-A of the BCIS (Bomber Command Instructor's School) RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 23 October 1946 on a training flight at RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

On 23 October 1946 this Bomber Command Instruction School aircraft was flown on a dual instructional training exercise that lasted an hour. As part of the exercise a flapless landing was made at Finningley airfield at 13.00hrs. The brakes failed to stop the aircraft and the Lancaster over-ran, at slow speed, into a ditch causing the starboard undercarriage leg to collapse. The damage was initially assessed as being repairable Cat. B but was later downgraded to Cat. E2 and was struck off charge in November 1946.

Crew of Lancaster HK762
Pilot - Flight Lieutenant David Roberts DFC AFC RAFVR (150196).
Pilot - Flight Lieutenant Archibald Roy Stuart Smith DFC RAFVR (170411)
Plus three other crew - Names unknown.

Aircraft not repaired, and was written off (Struck off charge as Cat. E) on 27 November 1946.

The Bomber Command Instructors School had been established at RAF Finningley, Doncaster, in December 1944 and this organisation, with a variety of bomber types, saw out the remaining months of the war at this station and did not depart until the spring of 1947.

Brief History of Lancaster HK762
Built by Vickers Armstrong at Chester to Contract Acft/1336
17-01-1945: Delivered to the BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
21-04-1945: Cat. A(c) damage in operational service. ROS (Repairs on Site) by A V Roe & Co Lincoln
05-05-1945: Repairs completed, returned to service with the BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF Finningley
11-02-1946: Cat. A(c) damage in operational service. ROS (Repairs on Site) by A V Roe & Co
28-03-1946: Repairs completed, returned to service with the BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF Finningley
28-04-1946: Cat. A(c) damage in operational service. ROS (Repairs on Site) by A V Roe & Co
08-07-1946: Repairs completed, returned to service with the BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF Finningley
23-10-1946: Cat. B(FA) in flying accident at RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire as per the above.
14-11-1946: Re-Cat E2(FA) as damaged beyond economic repair
17-11-1946: Struck off charge as Cat. E2(FA)

1. Bomber Command Losses by W R CHORLEY, volume 8, page 226.
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.56. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft HA100-HZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.103: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.236
6. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
7. BCIS (Bomber Command Instructors School), RAF Operational Record Book (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1 January 1946 to 31 January 1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/1786 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101496
8. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/HK756-HK806/mobile/index.html
9. Aircraft Accident Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1946/October/1.html
10. https://www.avro-lancaster.info/hkseries/HK762
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Finningley#Post_Second_World_War

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Apr-2023 19:50	redsix	Added
24-May-2023 17:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated
26-May-2023 18:21	Nepa	Updated
26-Jan-2025 00:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ]
26-Jan-2025 00:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, ]