
June 1967 to March 1969
British Midland Airways (BMA)
G-AVJA - c/n 336 - a V.815 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
2 June 1967
Purchased from Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd and ferried from Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland to East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England.
8 September 1967
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a Luton Airport weather diversion. The passengers were transferred to Luton by coach.
Crashed at Ringway, Manchester, England
19 March 1969
Diverted from East Midlands Airport, Catle Donington, Leicestershire, Enland to Ringway Airport, Manchester, England due to poor visibility at EMA.
20 March 1969
Crashed on takeoff from Ringway Airport, Manchester, England whilst on a positioning flight to Turnhouse Airport, Edinburgh, Scotland.
It was pre-planned that the flight would be used to carry out some training and that an engine failure would be simulated during takeoff. Shortly after takeoff the No.4
(starboard outer) engine was feathered and the aircraft yawed sharply to starboard, then levelled off and then entered a steeper climb whilst turning and rolling to starboard.
The aircraft struck the ground inverted.
There were four crew on board, Captain I D Wallace, First Officer R A Weeks and Stewardesses S Wallis and Jane Timson. Sadly only Jane survived the crash.
An 'eye witness' account by Lance Shippey: -
Thursday was a fine weather afternoon and l had just been informed that l had been accepted to work for BEA at Manchester flying the BAC Super One-Eleven.
I was walking with mail to the terminal building's post office. Crossing the apron beyond the B.O.A.C. cargo office and the parking area for visiting light aircraft l heard the
whine of the Rolls-Royce Dart engines from a Viscount. Continuing my journey on foot, l watched BMA G-AVJA taxi to the threshold of Runway 06.
The aircraft lined up and started to roll, becoming airborne fairly quickly as it passed the south side hangar, climbing out opposite the control tower. At around 500-650 feet,
the aircraft yawed to the right, and went into a vertical bank, before inverting, and hitting the ground nose first.
After the whine of the Darts stopped, there was a deadly silence, and a few seconds after the impact, a "woosh" as the fuel ignited around the wreckage.
An ambulance arrived fairly quickly, along with the fire service, who dowsed the flames with foam.
l spoke to a friend working as station engineer for BMA, an hour or so after the crash. He said that he had rushed to the site, and saw a stewardess standing dazed near
the tail section. This would be the sole survivor. The aircraft was on a positioning flight from Manchester to Edinburgh and the sole occupants were two flight deck crew, and two stewardesses. Jane Timson had survived, but the others were sadly killed.
The contents of a Hansard notice referring to the accident discussed between Mr Alfred Morris [by private notice] and the Minister of State Board of Trade, Mr William Rodgers,
stated that the crash happened at 16.58 B.S.T. and that the aircraft yawed at 50 ft. As l witnessed the crash, my calculation was the aircraft had reached 500 to 650 feet before the
yaw. The accident was captured on roll film. The photographer was an aviation enthusiast, photographing the aircraft from l believe, the parking area near to the Fairey Engineering hangar.
The take off was also being used as a training exercise. with experienced Captain Wallace in command, who was also the BMA safety officer cutting power to one of the Rolls-Royce Dart engines on the starboard wing.
|