Date & Time:
Mar 12, 1943 at 0132 LT
Type of aircraft:
Lockheed L-414 Hudson
Operator:
Registration:
FK621
Flight Phase:
Takeoff (climb)
Flight Type:
Military
Survivors:
No
Site:
Mountains
MSN:
414-7097
YOM:
1943
Country:
Spain
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
4
Crew fatalities:
4
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
4
Circumstances:
The crew was on a transfer flight from Hastings, Sierra Leone, to England, with intermediate stops including Morocco and Gibraltar. Following a night takeoff from Gibraltar Airport, the crew climbed to the east then veered to the west and continued at an altitude of 1,500 feet when the twin engine airplane impacted the slope of a mountain located near Algeciras. The airplane was destroyed and all four crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Brian Wallis Polson, pilot,
F/O Harold James Crowe, navigator,
Sgt Henry Edwin Ash, wireless operator,
Sgt Ronald Charles Granville Rickett, air gunner.
Crew:
F/O Brian Wallis Polson, pilot,
F/O Harold James Crowe, navigator,
Sgt Henry Edwin Ash, wireless operator,
Sgt Ronald Charles Granville Rickett, air gunner.
Probable cause:
The crew was out of practice at night. Last night flight was in August. Either the pilot did not fly on the correct course due to erratic instrument flying or observer did not give the pilot correct courses through the Straits. The pilot, although he had done no night flying for six months, preferred to be dispatched to the UK by night rather than fly an unarmed aircraft up by day. It is now evident that the crew were not fit to do so.
