1949 Manchester BEA Douglas DC-3 accident

1949 commercial airline disaster in England January 2025 1949 Manchester BEA Douglas DC-3 accident Accident Douglas Dakota wreckage of undercarriage - geograph.org.uk - 352460.jpg Wreckage of the DC3's undercarriage above Dovestone Reservoir 19 August 1949 Controlled flight into terrain caused by navigational and pilot errors. Saddleworth Moor, West Riding of Yorkshire, England Douglas C-47A G-AHCY BEA RWY 03.08.49 edited-2.jpg G-AHCY, the aircraft involved in the accident Douglas DC-3 British European Airways G-AHCY Nutts Corner Airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland Manchester Airport, England 29 3 8 24 8 The 1949 Manchester BEA Douglas DC-3 accident occurred when a twin-engined British European Airways Douglas DC-3 (registration: G-AHCY) crashed on Saddleworth Moor in the Pennines near Oldham, Lancashire, after a flight from Belfast. The accident killed 24 of the passengers and crew on board.http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19490819–0 Accident Description Aviation Safety Network 12 February 2011 The aircraft had first flown in 1944, and was captained by F. W. Pinkerton, a former RAF serviceman who, as a sergeant, had been posted missing during World War II.Roll of Honour – Royal Air Force 567 Flight 27 May 1943 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1943/1943–1395.html 14 February 2011 The airline was government-owned. Accident The aircraft took off from Belfast Nutts Corner Airport at 10:58 on 19 August 1949 on a short-haul flight to Manchester Airport, with twenty-nine passengers and either three or four crew members on board. US newspaper reports, using agency reports filed soon after the incident, favour the former number of crew; Flight Magazine, reporting a little time later, favoured the latter.B.E.A. Dakota crash 227 Flight 25 August 1949 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949–1463.html 14 February 2011 March 2021 An hour after take-off, at 11:59, the last radio contact with the crew occurred and about one minute later the aircraft crashed. It was flying at approximately 1350 ft m when it hit a mist-covered hill (53 31.240 N 1 58.733 W) at Wimberry Stones, near to the Chew Valley on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham, 15 miles km from Manchester Airport. Contact was made approximately 20 ft m 1 from the summit. The aircraft broke up and caught fire. Twenty-one passengers and all the crew members died, leaving eight survivors.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nCUtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tqQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5094,2186244 British plane crashes, 22 persons killed Associated Press The Rock Hill Herald 19 August 1949 12 February 2011 July 2024 InternetArchiveBot yes The dead passengers were eleven women, six men and four children, three of whom were aged under two years; the three crew members were all male. All but two of the dead died at the scene.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1vstAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kYEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=735,2522684 Plane hits British hill, 21 killed Associated Press Schenectady Gazette 20 August 1949 12 February 2011 The injured were treated at Oldham Infirmary.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_yMNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U2oDAAAAIBAJ&p=5717,5889414 British plane crash kills 24 Associated Press Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 20 August 1949 12 February 2011 July 2024 InternetArchiveBot yes The rescue was hampered by bad weather and the remote location of the crash site. Workers from a paper mill approximately 0.75 miles km 2 away formed a human chain to carry the injured from the hillside to lower ground and a doctor at the scene said, "I found bodies scattered all over the place. There were a few survivors lying groaning on the hillside but some of them died before I could attend to them. I have been a doctor since 1914 and served in both wars, but this was the worst sight that I have ever seen."https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m6JgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JnMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3304,5146378 27 killed in plane crashes U.P. Greensburg Daily Tribune 19 August 1949 1, 12 12 February 2011 The cause of the accident was an error in navigation, incorrect approach procedure and failure to check the position of the aircraft accurately before the descent from a safe height. An hour later, a Proctor light aircraft crashed on a test flight in mist at Baildon in Yorkshire, approximately 40 miles km away. All four of its passengers died.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KcccAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FVoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5974,7209359 26 Britons perish in 2 plane crashes Associated Press The Victoria Advocate 19 August 1949 12 February 2011 July 2024 InternetArchiveBot yes The five-year-old Stephen Evans was one of the survivors. His parents also survived, but his younger brother Roger was killed. Evans, now an eminent professor of epidemiology, returned to the site of the crash for the first time in 2016 along with members of his family.https://saddind.co.uk/plane-crash-survivor-makes-poignant-first-return-to-saddleworth-site/ Plane crash survivor makes poignant first return to Saddleworth site Trevor Baxter Saddleworth Independent 15 July 2016 26 March 2024 References Further reading http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=58756 Dakota air crash near Oldham British Pathé 12 February 2011 – short film clip of the scene after the crash Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1949 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-3 19490819 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Greater Manchester Category:1940s in Lancashire Category:August 1949 in the United Kingdom Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom Category:1949 disasters in the United Kingdom