Handley Page Heyford accident?
 

Came across this photo of a HP Heyford which appears to show an unfortunate accident. Anyone know what happened? Did he fall from the aircraft?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2421667469.jpg

It's not a Hereford - it's a HP38/50 Heyford....


original image is at https://www.pinterest.ie/comrademojo/aircraft/ but I'm not in PINTEREST so can't drill down any further..............

I came across this - not the incident above but the RAF was not a safe place in the early 1930's...........

RAFCommands Forums

No information about it.

Is it staged? the only info is that rather odd hose running from the back of the u/c cover to near the "casualty"

There are no visible steps around and the engines don't seem to be running and two of the guys don't seem to be rushing to bend down to check outthe casualty.

And that picture is crystal clear and sharp and beautifully composed. Either the camera man was photographing a line of Heyfords and an accident happened right in front of him or it was staged. I'd expect a lot less precision in the case of an accident................................

I wonder if it is a still frame from a film, which could explain the photographer being there just at the right time and the following frames would show the other people rushing over to him.

Well the photograph might have been taken by the eminent aeronautical photographer Charles Brown. The aircraft in question is from 10 Squadron based at Boscombe Down. In September 1935 'B' Flight from 10 Squadron detached to RAF Catfoss, East Yorkshire to be reformed as 97 Squadron. These two images by Charles Brown of a 10 Squadron Heyford were taken near Catfoss.

Having a few problems with my finger......

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4c4ea5b2cf.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....66bad0cb6b.jpg

He isn't just messing with an underground fuel system?
But too many people are watching him looking more or less startled.

sablatnic could be right. He seems more to be feeling down a hole in the ground rather than having fallen. Did they have underground refueling systems that far back, or is he defueling into a sump of some kind?

What a very strange looking beastie was the aesthetically unappealing Heyford! I am guessing that this was the predominant RAF night bomber at this time (1935), replacing the last Vickers Virginias in the Home RAF, when that force was made up almost entirely of biplanes. Its unusual configuration was practical in some ways, but it must also have been an on-going physical challenge to the people having to service them, as well as the aircrew members attempting to reach their "work stations"!
David D

. . . stuff the aesthetics . . . can't someone build a replica? Taxiable at least!!

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it wasn't a safe place for about 6 years, roundabout the autumn of 1939.

Damn! Why are there none of these amazing dinosaurs left?

yes but most (not all) of that was enemy action - the 1931 stats were all self inflicted.................... :uhoh:

Looks like the casualty is on his back but it's hard to tell

The RAF Catfoss Facebook page has a picture of the Roll of Honour which is hard to decipher but it looks as if its all WW2 casualties

found another picture



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2fefc58c67.jpg


ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 207067
Last updated: 29 November 2019
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.




Date: 22-JUL-1937 Time: night Type: Handley Page Heyford Mk III Owner/operator: 166 Squadron Royal Air Force (166 Sqn RAF) Registration: K6875 C/n / msn:
Fatalities: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Broadlee Bank Tor, near Edale, Derbyshire - https://aviation-safety.net/database...flags_15/G.gif United Kingdom Phase: En route Nature: Military Departure airport: RAF Leconfield, East Yorkshire Destination airport:
Narrative:
Handley Page Heyford Mk.III K6875, 1666 Sqaudron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 22/7/37 when crashed at Broadlee Bank Tor, near Edale, Derbyshire. Accoarding to the official Air Ministry announcement in "Flight" magazine (July 29, 1937 page 125 - see link #8):

"FLYING ACCIDENTS
As the result of an accident which occurred at Chapel-en-le-Frith on July 22, to an aircraft of No. 166 (Bomber) Squadron, Leconfield, Beverley, Yorkshire, the undermentioned personnel lost their lives:— Sgt. Newton William Baker, Sgt. James William Barker, Sgt. Charles Patrick Dugald McMillan, A/C.1 Eric James McDonald, A/C.1 William Henry Gray, A/C. 2 Ernest John Musker. Sgts. Baker and McMillan were the first and second pilots of the aircraft".

On the 22/7/37 the 6 man crew of Heyford K6875 were briefed to carry out a night cross country exercise from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire, the weather that night was poor, with low visibility. The crew became lost in the cloud were seen to fire flares to illuminate the ground beneath to hopefully see a feature they could recognise, this proved fruitless as the aircraft flew up the Vale of Edale striking Broadlee Bank Tor just below the summit.

The aircraft burst into flames on impact killing all 6 of the crew and destroying the aircraft. It has been stated that the aircraft was some 13 miles off course meaning the aircraft should have been either over Sheffield, Stockport or to the south of Huddersfield or Buxton.

All six crew killed:
Sgt Newton William Baker (aged 35)
Sgt James William Barker (aged 26)
Sgt Charles Patrick Dugald McMillan (aged 26)
AC1 Eric James McDonald (aged 22)
AC1 William Henry Gray (aged 20)
AC2 Ernest John Musker (aged 20)

In 1975, Officer Cadets from RAF Henlow recovered, as a training exercise, some remains of Heyford III K6875: a pair of main wheels, two blades of a propeller and tailplane parts, recovered from its crash site in the Peak District. These were passed to the RAF Museum, and are held in its reserve collection, being the large pieces of Heyford airframe components still in existence.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 55)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
3. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.c...dlee-bank-tor/
4. https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/researc...o-we-have.aspx
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handle...ford#Survivors
6. https://www.scribd.com/document/2417...-HEYFORD-K6875
7. http://aircrashsites.co.uk/pre-war-crash-sites-2/077x/
8. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarch...0-%202129.html

sablatnic has nailed it, I think. The guy has probably swore or something like that so the other people are looking at him.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2544e00e23.jpg
At least one survived into 1940 to be used as the tug for the prototype GAl Hotspur.

My father's last flight in a Heyford was on March 3rd 1939; he flew with F/O Robertson from Mildenhall (149 (B) Sqn) to St Athan, and back again on the same day with F/O Fulton. He had converted on to the Heyford in January 1938 after completing his Advanced Training at No 2 FTS. I have a picture somewhere of his Heyford at Mildenhall after a solo flight (maybe this first in that aircraft), fuselage and tail pointing skywards, nose section flat on the ground, the empty seat sliced in two by a propeller. I suspect he braked too hard, but it's only a guess.

He then went on to intensive training on Wellingtons, still with 149(B) Sqn, culminating in the Brunsbuttel raid on September 4th.

I always thought the Heyford had a crew of 2, Ist and 2nd pilots, sitting up there in the open cockpit. Was it really 6, as per the post above? What did they all do? Where did they sit?

At a guess, 2 pilots, nav, wireless and 2 gunners.