Hastings Wheels Up at Khartoum.
A friend in the pub just happened to mention that he’d once done a wheels up at Khartoum in a Hastings. Sort of thing you’d drop into any flagging conversation. Anyway, he showed the scar on his leg to prove it. His old man worked for the Air Ministry and he was on his way to Aden (?) for school holidays.
I’ve promised to dig out all the details, crew names, aircraft reg, and photos of actual aircraft etc. Trouble is, I can’t find anything. The accident was in 1956, of this he is sure, but the only Hastings accident/incident in ’56 was WD483, gear collapsed, Aden.
And the only accident at Khartoum was in 1959, TG522, engine failure(s) after take-off, crashed returning. 5 Dead (all crew) all pax survived, 25. (As he was thirteen at the time I'm developing a suspicion that he may have been aboard this aircraft, with the details withheld from him.)
I’m pretty sure that any wheels up at Khartoum would have produced a write off – but no mention anywhere. Any ideas?