Date & Time:
Jan 19, 1942 at 1050 LT
Type of aircraft:
Vickers 417 Wellington III
Operator:
Registration:
X3370
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Training
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Country:
United Kingdom
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
While on a training flight, the airplane suffered a structural failure at 250 feet of the outer section of the starboard wing. It went out of control and crashed in a field at Folly Farm, north of Thetford, bursting into flames. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
Sgt Robert Douglas Telling, pilot,
Sgt John Amphlett, observer,
Sgt Thomas Frederick Greenwood, observer,
P/O Harry Lionel Tarbitten, observer,
F/Lt Philip Henry Creswell, navigator,
Sgt Robert Smiles Aitchison, air gunner,
Sgt Thomas George Banks, wireless operator.
Crew:
Sgt Robert Douglas Telling, pilot,
Sgt John Amphlett, observer,
Sgt Thomas Frederick Greenwood, observer,
P/O Harry Lionel Tarbitten, observer,
F/Lt Philip Henry Creswell, navigator,
Sgt Robert Smiles Aitchison, air gunner,
Sgt Thomas George Banks, wireless operator.
Probable cause:
Structural failure of the outer section of the starboard wing in flight.
