Rearward Facing Seats - A Great Story
A disertation on the benefits of rearward facing passenger seats has got started on the "Britannia" thread. Mention is made of the accident to Hastings TG574 at Benina and so I thought you all might like to hear a story of great skill and bravery. This is an extract from my history of 53 Sqn:
"It had been decided to shut down the Singapore slip-schedule for Christmas so Hastings TG574 was sent off to act as the "sweeper" (get the crews home for Christmas). It had already "swept-up" four complete slip-crews and three passengers on its way from Singapore through Negombo, Karachi and Habbaniya when F/L Graham Tunnadine and crew climbed on board at Fayid on 20 December(1950). They had hoped to make the next refuelling stop at Castel Benito (Tripoli) but had to make an unscheduled stop at El Adem (Tobruk). They finally left El Adem at 1958Z and set course for Castel Benito climbing up to 8,500 feet before setting cruise power. The co-pilot, F/L S L Bennett, went back to rest on the crew bunk since he was expected to fly the aircraft on to UK from Castel Benito. His place on the flight deck was taken by S/L W G James of 99 Sqn.
Some 42 minutes after take-off there was a loud bang and a great deal of violent shuddering. A blade had come off of the No.2 propeller and it had sliced through the fuselage, severing all of the tail control rods. It had then struck F/L Bennett, who was resting on the bunk and taken his right arm off. The three remaining blades on the No.2 propeller were now hopelessly out of balance so the entire engine was torn from its mountings and fell off, taking the port undercarriage and a large section of the wing leading edge with it.
Graham Tunnadine was desperately trying to keep the aircraft flying straight and level but had an almost impossible task on his hands. The flight engineer, Sgt P E Walker, had quickly established that there was no hope of repairing the severed tail control rods so the only primary flying controls left undamaged were the ailerons. First of all, the captain had to prevent the nose from getting too high otherwise the resulting stall would be impossible to recover from. He tried having the movable baggage and equipment in the cabin moved forward but there wasn't enough of it to have the desired effect. Next, he got the slip-crews to move fore and aft until the aircraft was flying level.
He was then able to keep the aircraft reasonably straight by using the ailerons and asymmetric thrust from the remaining three engines. Just how long the engines could put up with this sort of punishment was another question. The signaller, Sgt G J Bain, had sent out a Mayday call which was answered by Benina, the RAF airfield near Benghazi. Although they were not expecting any aircraft that night, they told Sgt Bain that they could quickly lay out a flare path and provide fire equipment and medical services, so it was decided to attempt a landing there.
S/L T C L Brown, a senior medical officer from Abingdon who was travelling as a passenger on TG574, had immediately gone forward to look after F/L Bennett. He tried to move him from the wrecked bunk area but found that he was trapped by the wreckage. He made the brave decision to stay with the seriously injured co-pilot, fully realising that he would be in great danger when the Hastings crash-landed.
F/L Tunnadine had eased the aircraft down to 6,000 feet by the time they arrived overhead Benina and his plan was to make a belly-landing by putting power on at the last moment, in the hope that this would be enough to raise the nose. He then descended to 1,000 feet by moving the slip-crews around again and positioned the aircraft on to final approach. Two slip-crew members stayed on their feet in order to make last minute trim changes before diving into the nearest seats just before impact.
They almost made it to the airfield but TG574 struck gently rising ground just a few hundred yards short of the runway. The aircraft bounced for another 100 yards, the starboard wing struck the ground and the Hastings ended up on its back at 2155Z. Thanks to the use of rearward facing passenger seats, everyone in the cabin survived with only minor injuries. It was a different story at the front of the aircraft. The nose was smashed in and F/L Tunnadine, S/L James and the navigator, F/S I A Johns, were dead. Sgt G J Bain was seriously injured and died on 24 December. Sgt Walker and the AQM, Sgt W A Slaughter, were injured.
Sadly, F/L Bennett had died of his injuries and S/L Brown, who had bravely sat on the floor holding him in his arms, was seriously injured. He was happily to recover and was awarded the George Medal. The crew of TG574 were each awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air. Many at the time (and subsequently) considered this to be miserly recognition for such a magnificent piece of flying".
I subsequently flew with one of the survivors when I was flying Belfasts with 53 Sqn. Dai told me that, not only was he able to get out uninjured, he was driving a spare ambulance 15 minutes afterwards!
So, this particular crash was a triumph for rearward facing seats.
P.S. Who said Sioux City was new?
Last edited by JW411; 3rd Mar 2010 at 18:34.