Originally Posted by
greycoat
BBC News webpage carrying story today about efforts of fishermen to recover remains of Victor B2 that crashed in Aug 1959
While the expression "freak accident" is very overused, I think it's a pretty good description of this event:
"A fatigue fracture induced the loss of the starboard wingtip pitot head tube, which led to a low speed input to the auto Mach trim actuator and the stall detector thus lowering the elevators and extending the leading edge flaps.
The aircraft progressed into a high speed dive from 54,000 feet. Partial structural failure preceded impact with the sea at Mach 0.855, into the Irish Sea off St Brides Bay, Pembrokeshire."
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55309