North of England Valetta crash

[N707ZS]

I have a photograph taken by my father-in-law of a Valetta which belly landed in a field, undercarrige collapsed but aircraft looks in one piece.

I have shown this to a historian who said it was a Valetta T4 WJ467/K from 228 OCU, from Leeming and supposidly crashed on the 6th August 1958. (Forced landing Category 4).

But my father-in-law insists that he took it near Middleton-st George, has there ever been a Valetta crash at or near Middleton-St George/Teesside?

[forget]

I saw this on my way to London, on the A1. It looked as if a 'landing' had been made on the earthworks which were to become the north bound lane of the new A1 dual carriageway. If the photograph shows it in field then it had slid from the 'road' into the edge of the field. I remember it being further south than Middleton St George.

How about posting the photograph?

Just found this - with position. ASN Aircraft accident Vickers Valetta T.4 WJ467 Leeming (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19580806-0)

[diginagain]

The two are not that far apart.

[brakedwell]

06/08/1958 WJ467 K Valetta T4 228 OCU Written off in a forced landing three miles north of Leeming, Yorks following engine failure.

Middleton St George is twenty miles north of Leeming.

[N707ZS]

Father-in-law thought he was on his push bike with his box browny! Quite a ride from Darlington.

[T-21]

My late father was the pilot of this Valetta. WJ467 was a T.4 from RAF Leeming. I would welcome a copy of the photograph very much as the 2 small photos we had have disappeared with time.
I have a copy of the accident report. Basically my father was on assymetric one engine out and could not maintain height ,I believe it was a hot day in August and just managed to clear the A1. He had to boot the co-pilot to evacuate the aircraft he was in negative shock. Both got a severe bollocking from the crash crew as they were found sitting on a fence having a cigarette.
This aircraft seemed fated . My father said it later fell off the Queen Mary trailer and caused massive traffic problems in York !

[forget]

I saw this on my way to London, on the A1. It looked as if a 'landing' had been made on the earthworks which were to become the north bound lane of the new A1 dual carriageway.

I'd guess it was the same aircraft. :hmm:

[N707ZS]

Hi can you pm me an e-mail address and I will scan and send a copy of the photo to you. Hopefully you might be able to say it is the right aircraft as there are no visable markings on the photograph to identify the aircaft.

Thanks.

[forget]

Here you are. My memory is that the aircraft was much closer to the road. Perhaps it had been dragged there for dismantling before I saw it. Who knows.

And I seem to remember a lot of orange; later found out to be DayGlo. Doesn't appear to be any on this aircraft.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/VALETTA.jpg

[fustall]

http://%3Ca%20href=http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/?action=view&current=dadsvaletta.jpg%20target=_blank%3Ehttp://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/th_dadsvaletta.jpgI am the brother of T21 above,here is a copy of a copy taken from a chipmunk of the accident crashsite,you can see the A1 top left.
The Yorkshire Post does have the original photo in their archives.;)


[IMG]http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/th_dadsvaletta.jpg (http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/?action=view&current=dadsvaletta.jpg)

[fustall]

In 1982 whilst living in North Yorkshire,I visited the site at a place named Holtby Hall,just off the A1 to the west,3 miles north from Leeming.
There was an old gentleman and lady at the hall who had an original copy of the Yorkshire Post and also told me they had parts of the Valetta in the shed!
The crash happened just after lunch(1pm-2pm).
My work took me to peoples houses and during one visit I noticed a strong aviation theme in the house(pictures of aircraft etc),the chap used to be a fireman at Leeming in the 50's!,this crash was the first he went to,he found out about it on a field telephone.
This story is related in a book,something like 'from the ground up',all about ground crew etc.......??:confused:

[fustall]

Hi

After looking at the other photo I can confirm that this is WJ467 T4 Valetta,you can see the track to the right which leads to Holtby Hall just out of shot.
Brilliant photo as I and my brother only have photocopy of the aerial shot,thank you.

Roger:)

[fustall]

http://[IMG]http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/valettacrash.jpg

http://[IMG]http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/valettacrash2.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/valettacrash3.jpg

:)

[fustall]

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/valettacrash-1.jpg

[fustall]

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/dadsvaletta-1.jpg

Found this-Thanks to Air-Britain site and Photographer,Taken at Sutton-on-Hull,Fire Training airfield in May 1959.
Looking through all the T4 listings,this is the only one,who's demise is not accounted for,all the others ended up on fire dumps at other stations or smelted down at Birmingham,also you can just make out the 'K' behind the cockpit,so I think this is WJ467/K.

Roger:D:ok:

[N707ZS]

Father-in-law found the negatives from the crash unfortunately there was only one aircraft photograph. Another did have him posing infront of his first motorbike! so Leeming was in range.

[diginagain]

The photo taken at RAF Sutton-on-Hull ties-in with T-21's report of chaos in York.

[fustall]

Hi N707ZS
Would you mind if I post your photo on this thread,just to bring a closure to the story.
Thank you again for bringing this photo to me and my brothers attention,long time ago,but I can still remember my Father relating the story.

:ok::D:D

[N707ZS]

Yes please post the photograph. Are you able to post the incident report?

[fustall]

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/Valettacrash-3.jpg (http://[img]http//i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/Valettacrash-3.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

This is the original photo taken on a box brownie:):D

[fustall]

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/RAFDAD2.jpg (http://[img]http//i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg130/parts_bucket/RAFDAD2.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

This is a picture of my Father a few years earlier,Horsham-St-Faith,flying Meteors I believe:ok:

[fustall]

Hi
I have not got the incident report,my brother T21 has it.

When he comes over I will scan it and then E-mail or post on here.

Roger:ok:

[tonysongbird123]

I was on duty crash crew at RAF Leeming when the Valetta crashed just north of Leeming. I was on the foam tender and we hurtled through leeming villahd an Bar to the crash. The valetta crashed intoa field but there was no fire. Quite exciting for a 20 yearss erk.

[fustall]

A copy of my Fathers accident report.....strange he was blamed for this when you read similar Valetta accidents whilst on one engine.:rolleyes::confused:
He was back flying within a fortnight,no duel checks or anything.
Went onto fly for the RAF for 20 years,leaving with 5000 flying hours,and then 21 years with Dan-Air.

Valetta Report | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/113000816@N08/11649363516/in/photostream/) ;)

[N707ZS]

Thanks for sharing the information will show it to my fater-in-law once he gets out of miserable Christmas mode.

[Llanon]

The remark about the crash of a Valetta on one engine reminds me of the Southall crash in 1958 where an Independent Airways Viking could not maintain height with an engine out. Was this a known weakness of the type?

[sycamore]

The Viking had 2 x1690 hp Hercules 234 engines,and the Valetta had 2x 1975hp herc230,but a higher gross weight.
A lot depends on the situation that has led to an engine failure,and the weight/configuration of the aircraft at the time,ie is the prop feathered,u/c /flaps up,max power available.

[Midland 331]

Wasn't the Southall accident due to overloading?

[Llanon]

The cause of the Southall accident may not be just a matter of overloading. I read somewhere that the aircraft was indeed overloaded but only by a small amount which shouldn't have been enough to make a critical difference. There were other maintenance and serviceability issues raised by the enquiry I think.

[seafire6b]

Llanon

You're right, I thought I'd read more about this accident and have now re-found the following :

1958 London Vickers Viking accident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_London_Vickers_Viking_accident)


Which then in turn caused me to find :

1959 | 1877 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%201877.html)


A whole parade of lined-up holes in the Swiss cheese. I feel sorry for the crew, who must've been extremely tired and under tremendous pressure, and plus of course, the innocent victims on the ground.

[Llanon]

This article retells the Southall crash story and adds a bit more about the parliamentary debates that followed the public enquiry

Picking through the bits (http://londongrip.co.uk/2011/10/picking-through-the-bits/)

[Lopty]

I have 2 new photos of the Valetta WJ467 'K' crash Aug 1958��

[Lopty]

Photos by Melissa Peakmans father who was with 228OCU at RAF Leeming

[Jhieminga]

Lopty, to avoid having you posting here just to increase your post count, feel free to e-mail me the photos and I will post them here. If you click on my name, there's a link to my website. E-mail address can be found there, or in my PPRuNe profile.

[Jhieminga]

On behalf of Lopty, here are his photos:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1535x1001/received_2069142996487088_84a148037c127550094542433bf9c4a554 310c02.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1517x1011/received_2133858530032598_f2b1b583b57ca8380de635001236ff7577 06b2fc.jpeg

[Lopty]

Many thanks😀

[Lopty]

Many Thanks��

[Lopty]

Note the Port engine feathered��

[Lopty]

The original last photographs were taken by Melissa Peakman's father Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Nichols also with 228OCU RAF Leeming.