Date:	Thursday 20 March 1947
Time:	11:50 LT
Type:	Avro Lancaster ASR Mk III
Owner/operator:	JASS RAF
Registration:	SW290
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 9
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	60 miles NNE of Malin Head, Inishowen Peninsula, Co. Donegal -   Ireland
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Ballykelly, Northern Ireland
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster ASR. Mk. III SW290, JASS (Joint Anti-Submarine School) RAF: Crashed and destroyed when wingtip hit water surface on Anti-Submarine training and crashed into Atlantic Ocean at the reported position 56'07"N, 08'03"W, some 60 miles north-north-east of Malin Head, Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, Ireland on 20/3/1947.

During an anti-submarine exercise, the Lancaster was orbiting the diving position of the submarine that it had been assigned to hunt. The pilot allowed his aircraft to descend from an altitude of 500 feet to near sea level, and the port wingtip struck the water, causing the Lancaster to cartwheel, and strike the water. Of the nine crew on board, seven were killed. There were two more than usual on board - the "usual" Lancaster crew of seven, plus two Royal Navy Officers. The seven crew members posted as "missing presumed killed" on 23-3-47 were:

Lieutenant Kenneth David James, RN, HMS Ferret, aged 22
Sub Lieutenant Haydon Shelton Moore, RN, HMS Ferret, aged 20
Pilot II (1815249) Harry Stapleton, RAFVR, (pilot, aged 23) on assignment from 224 Squadron
Navigator II (1675594) John Derek Shaw (Navigator, aged 24) on assigment from 224 Squadron
Engineer II (576946) John David Darby (Flight Engineer, aged 23) on assigment from 224 Squadron
Signaller II (1314416) Charles Lexton (Wop/Signaller, aged 23) on assigment from 224 Squadron
Signaller II (1494556) Dvid Gerard Ryan (Signaller/Air Gunner, aged 23) on assignment from 224 Squadron

It should be noted that the CGWC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) give the date of death of the crew as "30-3-47" (seven days later); presumably, that was the date that any hope of finding the crew had ended. The body of Signaller David Gerard Ryan was recovered, and was buried at Grangegorman Military Cemetery, County Dublin, Ireland. The remainder of the crew fatalities were commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (for RAF crew) and the Lee-on-Solent memorial (Royal Navy crew)

According to a contemporary press report (The Times. Saturday, March 22, 1947. p.4.):

"R.A.F. PLANE CRASH OFF IRELAND.

Eight naval ships, including two destroyers and a submarine, searched all through yesterday for the survivors of an R.A.F. Lancaster which crashed about 50 miles out to sea north of Ireland just before midnight on Thursday. Three of the Lancaster's missing crew of nine were picked up, two of them dying later. Late last night it was stated that there was no hope of finding further survivors, and the search was called off. The crash was reported by H.M.S. "Vengeance", aircraft-carrier. The Lancaster was one of six on naval cooperation exercises operating from Ballykelly, 13 miles north-east of Londonderry."

Malin Head (Irish: Cionn Mhálanna) is the most northerly point of mainland Ireland, located in the townland of Ardmalin on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal. The head's northernmost point is called Dunalderagh at latitude 55.38ºN

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1985 p.16)
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.281-282
3. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
4. JASS RAF ORB for 1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File 29/1832: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101542
5. http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1947-01JAN.htm
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2974742/kenneth-david-james-lorimer/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2974915/hayden-shelton-moore/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1807851/harry-stapleton/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1806973/john-derek-shaw/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/231792/david-john-darby/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2701523/david-gerard-ryan/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malin_Head

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
23-May-2010 11:04	TB	Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Phase, Nature]
10-Mar-2013 14:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Mar-2013 14:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
04-May-2013 11:09	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
26-Dec-2014 01:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
01-Feb-2015 21:05	TB	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
01-Feb-2015 21:06	TB	Updated [Time, Location, Source]
20-May-2023 12:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Time, Location, Source]]
20-May-2023 20:54	Nepa	Updated [[[Time, Location, Source]]]