Hi,
G-AFCK had set off from Lisbon on 30th Dec but returned with a fault in the Starboard outer engine - a replacement was ordered. On the subsequent test flight (9th January 43) a fire broke out in the starboard inner and the aircraft crashed on forced landing.
The accident report noted there were six authorised crew and a further nine unauthorised passengers. Only two survived the crash.
The cause was discovered to be a failure of No4 cylinder which then resulted in further damage, incuding the detachment of No6 cylinder and the subsequent fire.
On landing the aircraft porpoised and crashed, disintegrating. Causes were said to be smoke in the cockpit obscuring the pilots view (the co-pilot had opened his window which drew more smoke from further aft in the cabin onto the flight deck and the wing root hatch covers were not in place) and fire damage to the tail plane, which might have affected handling.
The lack of fully feathering propellors was significant, in that they would have likely prevented the damage to the engine which caused the fire, had the engine been shut down when the vibration started.
The carrying of passengers was a serious breach of the BOAC policy, which the report blamed on Capt Lock, although ground staff were also criticised.
Who was your uncle - I can look and see if he gave evidence at the enquiry.
And here's a photo of the damage to the engine. You can post photos to a photo hosting website such as Photobucket and then copy and paste the img code into your message.
