ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 74458
Last updated: 21 May 2013
This information is added by users of ASN. ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | 07-JUN-1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Handley Page Halifax II |
| Operator: | TFU, RAF |
| Registration: | V9977 |
| C/n / msn: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 11 / Occupants: 11 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Welsh Bicknor, Herefordshire, 8 mi SSW Ross-on-Wye -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | RAF Defford, Worcestershire |
Halifax V9977 of the Telecommunications Flying Unit was on a flight from its base at Defford, testing the top secret H2S ground mapping radar system.
It carried a flight crew of seven RAF personnel and four technical experts.
A fire started in the starboard outer engine and spread to adjacent fuel tanks.
The pilot sought to make a forced landing on flat ground near the River Wye, but before he could
the wing structure burned through, and the outer portion of the starboard wing broke away.
The Halifax rolled over and dived five hundred feet to the ground.
There were no survivors.
The RAF investigation found that the fire was caused by the improper tightening of a tappet valve nut which unscrewed in flight, causing excessive valve opening and the failure of the valve stem.
This allowed fuel to leak out of the rocker cover and ignite inside the engine nacelle.
One of the civilian scientists aboard the aircraft was Alan Blumlein, an electrical engineer and gifted inventor who is regarded as one of the most significant scientists of the 20th century. He held 128 patents for inventions in the fields of telecommunications, sound recording, radar and television. He was the inventor of the stereophonic sound system.
Sources:
http://www.testflyingmemorial.com/1940-45.htm
- Air Britain: RAF Aircraft T1000 - V9999, published 1997
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-May-2010 22:15 | angels one five | Added |
| 23-May-2010 22:20 | angels one five | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Jan-2012 06:00 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 06-Jan-2013 23:26 | angels one five | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 07-Jan-2013 00:19 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description