1954 BOAC Lockheed Constellation crash

Deadliest Plane crash in Singapore July 2014 September 2019 1954 BOAC Lockheed Constellation crash Accident Lockheed L749A G-ANUV BOAC BLA 10.09.55 edited-2.jpg A BOAC Lockheed L-749A Constellation, similar to the aircraft involved 13 March 1954 Pilot error Kallang Airport, Singapore 01 18 26.68 N 103 52 24.16 E Lockheed L-749A Constellation Belfast British Overseas Airways Corporation G-ALAM Sydney, Australia London, United Kingdom Darwin, Australia Jakarta, Indonesia Kallang, Singapore 40 31 9 33 7 7 A British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Lockheed L-749A Constellation crashed and caught fire as it attempted to land at Kallang Airport on 13 March 1954, killing 33 of the 40 passengers and crew. The accident occurred when the aircraft struck a seawall on approach to the runway. The inquiry attributed this to crew tiredness, noting that the captain had been on duty for over 21 hours. It also criticised the response of the airport fire unit. This is the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Singapore.All Singapore Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives https://www.baaa-acro.com/zone/all-singapore?page=1 2022-07-18 www.baaa-acro.com July 2026 InternetArchiveBot Flight The aircraft was operating a joint Qantas–BOAC scheduled passenger flight from Sydney, Australia, to London, England. Following a stopover at Jakarta, Indonesia, it crashed while landing at Kallang Airport.Airliner Death Roll 33 – No survivors from passengers 15 March 1954 6 52880 Captain Trevor Hoyle was the pilot. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19540314&id=wTceAAAAIBAJ&pg=6267,2362929 32 Killed as British Plane Crashes, Burns Sarasota Herald-Tribune United Press 14 March 1954 30 January 2014 The aircraft was a Lockheed L-749A Constellation, a low-wing monoplane airliner with four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines. It had first flown in the United States in 1947. Originally part of an order by Eastern Air Lines it was re-allocated to the Irish airline Aerlínte Éireann and delivered on 16 September 1947.Eastwood/Roach 1991, p. 232 It was sold in 1948 by Aerlínte Éireann, along with five other Constellations, to British Overseas Airways Corporation. It had been registered as G-ALAMhttp://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ALAM.pdf Ministry of Civil Aviation Form 113: Nationality and Registration Marks – G-ALAM United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority 30 January 2014 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20140111225830/http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ALAM.pdf 11 January 2014 and named Belfast. Accident The accident occurred when the aircraft struck a seawall on approach to Runway 06 at Kallang, damaging the undercarriage and causing a leak from the number three wing fuel tank. As the aircraft touched down a second time, on the runway, the undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft slid until the starboard wing broke off. The remainder of the aircraft rolled to the right, coming to rest upside down with the fuselage in two pieces, and one of the engines carried on for another 100 yds m on. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19540313-2 Lockheed L-749A Constellation G-ALAM Singapore-Kallang airport Aviation Safety Network 8 January 2014 The aircraft was already on fire when it came to rest. The weather was clear at 2:35 p.m. when the accident occurred. Five crew members escaped from the cockpit through a 14-by-10-inch clear vision panel, and two more through a gash in the fuselage in the crew compartment, the sole survivors of the accident. Holes were cut in the fuselage through which a stewardess and two passengers were removed, but the latter died before reaching a hospital, and the stewardess died later of her injuries. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26596832 Her 'last trip' The Argus 16 March 1954 11 January 2014 No attempt was made to use the emergency exits, and the main cabin door was jammed; at the inquiry a fire expert attached to the RAF stated that the door of the Constellation was the most difficult he had had to open in his 24-year firefighting career. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23426801 Door 'kept victims in blazing plane' The Argus 9 July 1954 8 January 2014 All 31 passengers died, along with 2 crew members (the other crew fatality being a steward). https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19540315&id=AdRVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5226,2021960 Singapore Crash Toll Now 33 The Age Melbourne 15 March 1954 30 January 2014 It is the highest death toll of any aviation accident ever to take place in Singapore. http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?Country=9V Singapore Aviation Safety Network 8 January 2014 http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03131954&reg=G-ALAM&airline=British+Overseas+Airways https://archive.today/20140108162614/http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03131954&reg=G-ALAM&airline=British+Overseas+Airways 8 January 2014 Accident Synopsis – 03131954 Airdisaster.com dead 8 January 2014 Among the victims was Ami Chandra, a noted Fijian educator and president of the Fiji Industrial Workers Congress,"Prominent Fiji Indian in Singapore Constellation crash", Pacific Islands Monthly, March 1954, p.16 Professor Francis Cecil Chalkin, Dean of the Science Faculty at the University of Canterbury,1954-03-15 Constellation Crash Deaths now Total 33 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169439530 2025-09-14 Daily Mercury Mackay, Queensland 16 Professor Robert Orr McGechan, Dean of the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington1954-03-15 N.Z. Uni Men Die in Crash http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248830107 2025-09-14 Daily Telegraph 2 and architect Thomas Herbert Bates from New Plymouth. New Plymouth man among 33 killed in aircraft crash Taranaki Herald 3 New Plymouth 15 March 1954 Public inquiry The colonial government held a public inquiry into the accident under Justice Knight from 31 May to 16 August.Flight The Kallang Inquiry http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%203131.html 19 November 1954 754 The accident was attributed to poor execution of the approach due to crew tiredness, which exacerbated the pilot's decision to touch down near the end of the runway. The inquiry determined that, at the time of arrival in Singapore, Captain Hoyle had been on duty for 21½ hours since the flight departed Sydney. Christopher Shawcross, senior counsel for BOAC, stated that "the crash would not have happened had it not been for the condition which existed at that end of the runway on the day of the crash", referring to the wall struck by the plane. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23418376 'No error' in plane smash, says counsel The Argus 14 August 1954 30 January 2014 The inquiry criticised the airport fire unit's lack of equipment and the efforts it made to rescue the passengers in the six- to eight-minute period after the aircraft came to rest, when many were probably still alive. It did not censure the aircraft crew but did not commend their actions either, noting they were suffering from shock and the darkness and fumes. After studying the public report on the crash, the Singapore coroner recorded verdicts of 'death by misadventure'. The coroner also said that Captain Hoyle had made an error of judgement but that no one was criminally responsible for the crash. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19541218&id=QzpAAAAAIBAJ&pg=4367,5234232 Pilot's Mistake Caused Crash The Glasgow Herald 18 December 1954 30 January 2014 Aftermath Twenty-four of the victims, including fourteen who were not identified, were buried together in a communal grave at Bidadari Cemetery.Common Grave for 24 of Airliner's Dead 16 March 1954 6 52881 Two crash victims were mistaken for one another and received funeral rites of the other's religion.22 March 1954 Crash Bodies Mix-Up https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19540322-1.2.2 30 June 2023 The Straits Times 1 NewspaperSG BOAC based four captains in Sydney so the Sydney–Darwin and Darwin–Jakarta routes could be flown by separate captains.http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1954/1954%20-%203272.PDF Flight 10 December 1954 Brevities 849 References Notes 30em Sources Eastwood Tony John Roach Piston Engine Airliner Production List The Aviation Hobby Shop 1991 0-907178-37-5 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1954 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Singapore Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Category:1954 in Singapore Lockheed Constellation Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation Category:Qantas accidents and incidents Category:Kallang Category:1954 disasters in Singapore