Victor/Canberra accident
I was on 214 Squadron at the time, and knew Roger Morton and Ken Peacock very well. We had been on the same OCU Course prior to becoming the first two crews on the Squadron. I joined the Squadron on 8 Aug 66, they joined a couple of weeks later. The squadron had no aircraft or groundcrew at the time.
Until a few days before the accident my wife and I had been staying with the Peacocks, as we had returned from honeymoon to find the house we were having built was not ready. We were invited to stay with them. We had moved out a few days before the accident.
I also knew Jack Slabber and his crew from when I held at Bassingborne in March/April 66 prior to joining the Victor Course.
On the night of the accident I was guesting with another crew, due to depart at a similar time to XH646, and met most of their crew in Flight Planning. There had been a screw up by the Squadron Planners, and the AEO planned for their flight was on leave. The only AEO who could be found was Sqn Ldr Doyle who had joined the Squadron that morning. There was only one Nav on the flight as it was a Left Hand Seat Conversion sortie for Roger, with Bill Gallienne as TTF Instructor. We departed leaving them still waiting for the AEO. They took off about two hours late. The weather was poor with CBs all over the place.
Half way through our sortie we heard chatter on 243 between the rescue helicopter and the RCC. The helo had found the crash site and could see wreckage of a 4 engined aircraft, which he identified as a Vulcan. He then had to make an emergency landing so we heard no more. As it was in the Marham climb out lane we thought it was probably a Victor. Also that night the other two members of my rear crew were guesting in another aircraft, and the co-pilot in yet another. So, I was pretty sure that some of my normal crew were involved. The Captain was Duty Pilot.
When we landed we went to Ops to find the Squadron Commander, OC Ops Wing and the Station Commander in their No 1s. They would not confirm which crew it was, but told us is was one of ours. We were instructed to go home and not tell anybody (wives included) anything about it.
A few days later my wife was having a cup of tea with Dil Peacock, when she received her notice of eviction from the MQ, as "No longer entitled". Dont you just love Scribblies sometimes!!!
Roger was a keen rally driver, and being driven around the winding Norfolk lanes was quite an experience!!
If memory serves me correctly, Bill Gallienne and some (all?) of the crew are buried in the graveyard at Marham Parish Church.