Handley Page H.P.42 | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

An engine caught fire in flight, forcing the crew to reduce his altitude and to attempt an emergency landing. The four engine aircraft crash landed in a pasture located in Moresby Parks, northeast of Whitehaven, bursting into flames. All occupants evacuated safely and the aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and several explosions that occurred past the mishap. It was confirmed by the RAF that the aircraft was carrying ammunition boxes.

Probable cause:

Engine fire in flight.

Crash of a Handley Page H.P.42E into the Gulf of Oman: 8 killed

Date & Time: Mar 1, 1940 at 1320 LT

Type of aircraft:

Handley Page H.P.42

Operator:

Registration:

G-AAGX

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Lake, Sea, Ocean, River

Schedule:

Calcutta – Jask – Sharjah – Alexandria – London

MSN:

HP.42/1

YOM:

1929

Flight number:

CW197

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

While overflying the Gulf of Oman, the aircraft named 'Hannibal' crashed into the sea in unknown circumstances. SAR operations failed to find any trace of the aircraft nor the crew and were suspended after few days.
Crew:
N. Townsend, pilot,
C. J. Walsh, copilot,
A. H. H. Tidbury, radio operator,
C. A. F. Steventon, steward.
Passengers:
A. T. Pannirselvam,
Harold A. Whistler,
Alf Bryn,
Henry Hutchison.

Probable cause:

The UK Air Ministry considered as improbable that the crash had resulted from sabotage, hostile action or inflight fire. Also considered improbable was complete fuel exhaustion, although the starvation of the supply of gasoline attributed to improper activation of the corresponding controls could not be ruled out. Other possible causes were a bird strike damaging a propeller and leading to the failure of the engine mounting or even an entire wing; some type of structural failure, especially considering the age of aircraft and the history of vibration experienced with the type, or multiple power plant malfunction, which also could have preceded structural failure. Two months after the disappearance, and in following one of the recommendations made in the investigative report, it was announced by the British government that the HP.42 would no longer be used in passenger operations. It was also recommended that commercial aircraft used in long over-water flights be equipped with personal and group life-saving gear, which would later be standard throughout the industry.

Crash of a Handley Page H.P.42W in Tiverton

Date & Time: Nov 7, 1939

Type of aircraft:

Handley Page H.P.42

Operator:

Registration:

G-AAXD

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Paris - Exeter

MSN:

HP.42/6

YOM:

1930

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The aircraft was returning to Exeter after its crew dropped off Royal Air Force Command' staffs in Paris. While flying over Devon in marginal weather conditions, the crew was unable to locate the airport of Exeter nor to fix his position with certainty. Eventually, the captain decided to reduce his altitude and attempted an emergency landing on the Tiverton Golf course when on final, the aircraft impacted two trees and crashed. All three occupants were injured and the aircraft named 'Horatius' was destroyed.