Crash of a Handley Page H.P.52 Hampden I in Chilton Polden: 3 killed
Date & Time:
Sep 27, 1940 at 0445 LT
Operator:
Registration:
X2914
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Finningley - Finningley
Crew on board:
4
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
3
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Finningley in the evening of September 26 on a mine laying mission. While returning the following morning, it ran out of fuel. There was thick mist at the time and the pilot thought he was over the water, the liferaft was found in the field nearby. When he emerged from the mist he was very close to the ground and crash landed in a field located in Chilton Polden. The pilot was uninjured while three other crew members were killed after they parachuted at very low level prior to the crash.
Crew:
Sgt Wally Huggins, pilot,
Sgt Eric Henry William Shelfer, pilot, †
Sgt Bernard Harvey, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt James Joseph Aloysius Bogue, air gunner. †
Crew:
Sgt Wally Huggins, pilot,
Sgt Eric Henry William Shelfer, pilot, †
Sgt Bernard Harvey, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt James Joseph Aloysius Bogue, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Emergency landing due to a fuel exhaustion.
