Canberra plane crash Huntingdon, England 1977

Aftermath of the Canberra plane crash in Huntingdon, England 1977

  

 

Back in 2007 I started researching a Canberra plane crash which happened at Huntingdon, England on Tuesday 3 May 1977. There was almost nothing on the internet when I looked, which was surprising considering the severity of the incident in which two adults and three children died.  

 

Daily Mirror - Wednesday 04 May 1977

 

 

Newcastle Evening Chronicle - Tuesday 03 May 1977

 

 

Coventry Evening Telegraph - Tuesday 03 May 1977

 

Initially, I found only two references. One from 'A History of Firefighting in Cambridgeshire' by Eddie Baker. In Chapter 14 under 'Incidents of interest' appears a paragraph detailing the incident along with a photograph.

 

 

 

The second source of my initial research came from the House of Commons Hansard archives. Questions raised at the House of Commons on 21 November 1977 regarding the Canberra aircraft accident. Ref. tHC Deb 21 November 1977 vol 939 cc568-70W 568W:

 

 Embed from Getty Images

 

 

 

My interest in this stems from my childhood memories of the crash. I was 9 years old at the time and recall seeing a plume of smoke coming from the direction of the crash site from my own school playground. My school at the time was Huntingdon County Junior School. The plane crashed into houses in Norfolk Road which was less than 2 miles from my school. 

Location of the crash site as it appears today

I still have three small pieces of the wreckage which were given to me at the time – two small pieces of aluminum and a piece of perspex which I assume is from the cockpit. I was given these by the son of a Mr Hall, who was the Deputy Headmaster at Huntingdon County Junior School. It was part of a number of ‘swaps’. I can remember children at my school showing me pieces of debris which they had 'appropriated'. 

 

Fragments of the PR9 Canberra

 

The RAF Canberra PR9 was returning from photographic tasks in Scotland.  The crew were instructed to perform a ‘Practice Pan leading to an asymmetric recovery and overshoot’.

Asymmetric flying is when the power to one engine is reduced to idle speed to simulate engine failure. It then becomes critical that the pilot retains balance using the correct sequence of fin/rudder control and speed. If too much power is applied to the ‘live’ engine, or too quickly, then the aircraft will roll, the nose will drop and control is lost. This happens very quickly and if the aircraft is too close to the ground it’s unlikely to recover.  There have been numerous other incidents of this happening during the time the Canberra was operational.  Some of these other incidents also resulted in the deaths of the crew.

The aircraft crashed between two rows of houses at the end of Norfolk Road, Huntingdon. This was just 1.8 miles from the runway at RAF Wyton. Fire from ruptured fuel tanks almost completely destroyed 7 houses and badly damaged 9 others.  Tragically, three children were killed after becoming  trapped in the burning houses. They were aged just 4 months, 2 years and 4 years old.

The navigator ejected at around 100ft, which is about the minimum height required for a seat to work effectively. Although the ejector seat had detached and parachute deployed, the seat trajectory was into the path of the resulting fireball which is why the navigator did not survive. His severely charred body was found close to his ejector seat. Meanwhile, the pilot remained at his controls until the seat ejected his body from the wreckage on impact. It seems he was still trying to regain control of the aircraft in the final seconds before impact. The navigator had failed to secure his helmet which was found intact nearby, although this was not a contributing factor to his death.  The navigators helmet was shown on television news reports from the time (photo below).

The navigators helmet recovered from the scene

 

Here's a selection of photographs from the accident investigation report reproduced here with permission. These may not have been previously published and those of a sensitive nature have been omitted. 

Gas and electricity had to be disconnected affecting about 140 houses on the estate and hot meals were provided at the local school.  The site was cleared of wreckage by 17:00 on Sunday 8 May 1977. Demolition of burnt out houses began Monday 9 May.

The board of enquiry investigating the crash concluded: 

“The aircraft did not roll out of the finals turn but more than sufficient power to overshoot was applied to the port engine. The Board concludes that the pilot must have applied overshooting power before rolling the wings level. On this occasion, a combination of power on the engine outside the turn to the limit of directional control and aileron applied to level the wings or to counter the effect of wind gusts would have been sufficient to achieve fin stall. In the PR9 the powered rudder masks all warning of approaching fin stall, and the pilot probably did not realise that he was close to fin stall when it occurred.  The Board believed that fin stall is the most probable cause of the accident”

 

These two diagrams reconstruct the Canberra's final rapid descent:

 

RAF Canberra PR9 photographic reconnaissance jet

The RAF retired the last of these aircraft in 2006.

Since 2016 I've found more information from various sources and have been able to update this page further, such as these videos found on Youtube. 

Flight International 17 December 1977

The Aviation Safety Network website also provides links to other available sources of information.

 

I was pleased to learn that in 2017 a memorial service was held at the crash site to mark the 40th Anniversary. A memorial bench was unveiled which features five white doves to represent those who lost their lives. A fitting tribute to a tragic event, as reported by the Huntingdon Hunts Post.