On what date in about June/July 1952 did a Lancaster bomber crash at
RAF Scampton in which 4 crew members were killed?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Mar 2004 07:50 PST

The NY Times ran an article in May 1952:

British Jet Bomber Crashes 
New York Times May 2, 1952 

Do you think that may be it?

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Clarification of Question by malcolmiom-ga on 01 Apr 2004 10:59 PST

Date of accident now believed to be Saturday 13 Luly 1951.  Any
further details about accident most welcome.   Thanks

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Clarification of Question by malcolmiom-ga on 03 Apr 2004 12:58 PST

Further details as I believe:-
1) Crash occured at Scampton as aircraft coming in to land
2) At about 12.00 noon Saturday 14 july 1951
3) Aircraft believed to have bounced on landing and swerved towards hangers
4) Bust into flames on impact, 4 killed
5) 4 crew buried in Scampton village church yard.
6) Visited the graves after Scampton Air Day Saturday 13/14 ? July 1991

Perhaps you are thinking of the Shackleton bomber VP261, attached to
120 squadron at Aldergrove, on loan to Scampton for anti-sumbarine
exercises in the North Sea on June 25, 1952 when it crashed into the
sea during a turn, killing eleven.

It doesn't quite fit, but the Shackleton was part of the Lancaster
family manufactured by Avro and was very similar to the Lancaster.

On the other hand, there were still original Lancasters at RAF
Shackleton in 1952 so far as I can tell, but they were gradually being
phased out for the Shackletons and later the jet-powered Canberra and,
eventually, the Vulcan.

The Lancaster was definitely NOT a jet, by the way, so the NYT article
is unlikely to be the correct one. The only British jet bomber in
regular service during 1952 would have been the Canberra B2. Scampton
definitely had them in 1953, but I am not sure about 1952.

Original Lancasters at Scampton in 1952 would have been used almost
exclusively for training, since by that time most of them would have
been quite old. Are you sure of the date, the aircract type and the
number killed?

P.S.

Sorry. Of course I meant RAF Scampton in paragraph three. Must have
got Shackletons on the brain. Bit of an enthusiast, I'm afraid.

Alan Kali

Pafalafa,

July 13, 1951 was a Friday rather than a Saturday.

Can you tell us a bit more about this accident? How do you know about
it? Was the crash on the base at Scampton, or was the aircraft flying
out of Scampton? Or was it possibly just attached to the squadron at
Scampton and crashed somewhere else?

Lancaster (and Shackleton) crashes in the RAF are actually pretty well
documented. Unfortunately, there have been quite a lot of them, so it
is harder to pin a particular one down.

One of the ways that RAF crashes are indexed is wartime versus
peacetime. The period 1950-1953 was during the Korean war. Can you say
for certain it was during this period? If so, can you recall what this
aircraft was doing. Lancasters at that time would mostly be engaged in
training. Shackleton's would have been doing training or exercises,
particuarly anti-submarine warfare exercises, or possibly would have
been assigned to a combat role in Korea.

Anything you can remember will help to identify this incident.

Alan Kali

Malcolmiom,

Now we are closing in upon it! Thank-you very much for the details -
they make all the difference!

I believe that this may be the churchyard in which you save the graves
of the crew involved in the accident:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.fairweather/docs/scampton.htm

And there is an excellent history of RAF Scampton at the Red Arrows
demonstration team page, and though it does not mention this
particular crash, it gives a great overview of the bombers stationed
at the base at various times:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/scampton.html

But the best news is that there is an RAF museum at Scampton:

http://website.lineone.net/~mervyn_hallam/

I have emailed the curator to inquire after details of this particular
crash, and I have pointed him to this page should he wish to answer
directly. If I hear anything, I'll post it immediately.

Alan Kali

Malcolmiom,

One other little note. It was most likely to have been an Avro
Lincoln, rather than a Lancaster or a Shackleton, if the crash
occurred at Scampton in 1951. The Lincoln was originally called the
Lancaster Mk. IV. It entered service in 1946, after the war - that is
why it is so much less well known than the Lancaster.

Hopefully we'll learn the truth shortly!

Alan Kali

I have received an answer from Mr. Mervyn Hallam at the RAF Scampton
museum (http://website.lineone.net/~mervyn_hallam/). It was indeed a
Lincoln! Here is the entire text of Mr. Hallam's reply:

Dear Mr Kali,

In reference to your question, the aircraft involved was an Avro
Lincoln serial no RA692. It crashed on approach to Scampton 14th July
1951 and belonged to 230 operational convertion unit on a normal
training excerise. This was the only unit operating at Scampton until
1952 when the Canberras came into service. All the 7 crew were killed.

Hope this answers your question.

Regards,
Mervyn Hallam

Now that I know the serial number and aircraft type, I have found two links:
www.cnapg.com/avro_lincoln.htm (though they don't seem to be aware of the crash)
http://www.baaa-acro.com/archives/accident_1951.htm

Alan Kali