Shetland (Zetland)

The operating company were involved in a Royal Mail contract to deliver mail from Aberdeen to Shetland Islands each day. The crew involved in the accident had flown LN-PBB from Stauning Airport in Denmark to Aberdeen in preparation for a two week period of duty delivering the mail; they arrived at Aberdeen at 1700 hrs on 5 September 1999. The next morning, the crew arrived for duty at approximately 0540 hrs and completed their normal checks of LN-PBB. Shortly after this, the mail arrived and was escorted to the aircraft by the company ground crew. The mail bags were sorted and loaded into the aircraft by the flight and ground crew under the supervision of the commander; the mail had been weighed by Royal Mail and the commander was given written confirmation of the total weight of 1,196 kg. At the completion of the loading, the commander was satisfied that the load was secure and correctly distributed. Prior to departure for Sumburgh Airport, the commander had checked the weather and was aware that it was 'poor' at Sumburgh but the indications were that it would improve; additionally, the weather at Kirkwall Airport was clear if they needed to divert. The aircraft appeared fully serviceable during start, taxi and take off from Aberdeen at 0640 hrs; for the flight to Sumburgh, the commander was the handling pilot. Cruise was at Flight Level (FL)90and, about half way to Sumburgh, ATC advised the crew of the latest weather at Sumburgh which indicated that they would not be able to land there. However, there was a preceding aircraft heading for the same destination and the commander elected to continue towards Sumburgh. Then, once the preceding aircraft crew had declared that they were diverting to Aberdeen, the commander decided to divert to Kirkwall. The diversion was uneventful and the aircraft landed at 0807 hrs. At Kirkwall, the crew uplifted sufficient fuel to bring the total up to the same with which they had left Aberdeen (1,200lb) and waited for a weather improvement at Sumburgh. By approximately 0930hrs, the crew were advised by Kirkwall ATC that the weather had improved at Sumburgh and they prepared the aircraft for departure. Take off was at 0950 hrs with the co-pilot as handling pilot. Cruise was at FL 70 and was uneventful up to the approach and landing. The airport was using Runway 27 as that is the only runway with full ILS. The ATIS information at 1020 hrs was broadcasting the following information: surface wind 340°/07 kt; 9,000 metres in rain; cloud few at 300 feet, scattered at 1,000 feet and broken at 1,600 feet; temperature 12°, dew point 12°; tempo cloud broken 1,500 feet with a wet runway. In accordance with ATC instructions, the crew commenced their descent to 2,000 feet amsl where they were instructed to intercept the ILS from a heading of 300°. Once fully established on the ILS, the commander noted that the co-pilot was having a little difficulty maintaining the aircraft on both the localizer and glide slope. The co-pilot was not sure of the height at which they broke cloud but the commander estimated that they were at 500 feet agl. At this point, the co-pilot considered that they were slightly high and fast; subsequently, the commander estimated the aircraft airspeed as 140 kt as they became visual with the runway. During the final approach, the air traffic controller gave three separate wind reports of 010°/11 kt, 010°/11 kt and010°/10 kt; these reports were based on the two minute mean surface winds. As the aircraft crossed the runway threshold, the co-pilot called out that he had too much speed and that "it wasn't going to work". With no reply from the commander, the co-pilot took this lack of response as an indication that the commander was content. For his part, the commander was concentrating on the runway aspect and, although he heard a comment from the co-pilot, did not make any response. The crew considered that touchdown was approximately halfway down the runway and the co-pilot was aware of the aircraft bouncing before a second touchdown; neither pilot could recall the speed at touchdown. Both pilots applied full foot braking but with little apparent result in retardation. Then, as the aircraft approached the end of the runway, the commander took control and applied full power; this was because he was aware of the concrete blocks positioned off the end of the runway as a sea defence and wished to clear them. The aircraft was now yawed slightly left and positioned to the left of the runway centreline. It left the runway surface, travelled across grass and a public road and came to rest on the concrete blocks.

At 2300 hrs the two Tingwall fire attendants opened the airstripfor the returning flight. The airstrip lights were turned on and the fire appliance made ready. The firemen reported that,sometime later, the pilot radioed Tingwall asking for the wind speed and direction. This was passed as 090° to 120°/20 kt. One of the firemen also reported that at the time there was veryfine drizzle but the visibility was good. Analysis of recorded radar data from the radar head at Sumburgh confirmed that the aircraft routed over Lerwick and then flew north turning west inland over Kebister Ness. The doctor reported that, on approaching Lerwick he could see the lights of the town and the visibility was good enough for him to identify his house. The aircraft then turned southwards to join downwind right hand for Runway 02. The doctor stated that there were not many lights on the ground to the north of the airstrip but some to the south in the vicinity of Veensgarth. He also stated that the ride at this stage was moderately turbulent. At the end of the downwind leg the aircraft banked 'sharply' to the right to position on finals. It had, however, been blown through the centreline by the gusty easterly wind and was to the left of the required approach. The doctor confirmed that although the aircraft appeared to be at the correct height for its position he could see that when they were lined up the airfield lights were to the right of the windscreen. The pilot, unable to complete the approach, carried out a go-around to the left of the runway,climbed to 550 feet and turned right to enter the downwind leg again. The doctor reported that the engines sounded normal throughout this manoeuvre and the runway lights were clearly visible again as the aircraft became established on the downwind track. Several witnesses saw the aircraft fly downwind and turn onto the final approach. One witness, positioned on higher ground to the east of the runway threshold, stated that the aircraft flew downwind along the line of the houses at Veensgarth and 'asit turned it descended all the while'. Radar information shows that for this second attempt the pilot extended the downwind legby approximately 800 metres before turning towards the airfield. The rapid turn onto finals was described by the doctor as being very steep but without the increase in 'g' that he would have expected for such an steep angle of bank. The nurse described the sensation as 'the aircraft dropped, with my cheeks and whole body being forced upwards'. Throughout the turn the pilot was seen by the passengers to be generally looking to the right, presumably for the airfield. Seconds later the aircraft hit the ground. After the impact the nurse found herself still in her seat with the aircraft in an upright position. She was relatively uninjured and soon released her seatbelt, released her trapped right foot and struggled clear of the wreckage through the open right rear aircraft window. She ran around the tail section to the doctor and released debris from around his head. Unable to move him because of his injuries, she ran to a nearby house to summon the emergency services. The doctor, although seriously injured, remained conscious throughout and managed to clamber clear of the aircraft to lie on the round some ten feet from the wreckage. The pilot had received fatal injuries at impact.

Due to poor weather at destination, the crew was forced to divert to Sumburgh Airport. On approach, the crew encountered technical problems with the undercarriage and only the right main gear lowered and locked down. In such conditions, the crew decided to complete a belly landing. After touchdown, the airplane slid for few dozen yards before coming to rest. All seven occupants escaped uninjured and the aircraft was later considered as damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft was engaged on a series of charter flights, carrying oil company personnel between Aberdeen, Scotland and Sumburgh, Shetland Islands. The inbound flight to Sumburgh had been made without incident and no significant malfunction of the aircraft had been reported. The crew, consisting of two pilots and a stewardess, then had a stopover of nearly seven hours before departing on the return flight, Dan-Air 0034, with 44 passengers on board. It has not been established who was the handling pilot on this sector. At 15:48 hrs, in conditions of moderate visibility, but with low cloud, rain and a fresh easterly wind, the aircraft was taxied out to the holding point 'India', the intersection of the disused runway and runway 15/33. Meanwhile the stewardess gave the company's standard safety briefing, using a megaphone because the passenger address (PA) system was 'screeching'. The briefing included mention of the location of the lifejackets, how they should be put on, and the method of inflation; also mentioned was the location of the emergency exits. A diagram displaying the method of donning the jackets was fixed to the forward bulkhead of the cabin. Because of other aircraft movements, 'KF' was held at point 'India' for six minutes before being cleared, at 15:57 hrs, to 'enter and backtrack' for a take-off on runway 09, which was virtually into wind. Whilst the aircraft was backtracking, ATC passed the crew the en route clearance, which was read back correctly by the co-pilot. The aircraft was seen to turn close to the western end of the runway and line up on the runway heading. At 15:59 hrs the flight received take-off clearance from ATC and this was acknowledged by the co-pilot. There is evidence to show that the engines were accelerated whilst the aircraft was held stationary on the brakes and that full take-off power, using watermethanol, was achieved on the take-off run, which commenced at almost exactly 16:00 hrs. Evidence from the aircraft's Flight Data Recorder (FDR) shows that the aircraft accelerated normally through the decision speed, V1 (92 kts), to the rotation and safety speed VR/2 (99 kts). No rotation was carried out and even though the aircraft reached a speed significantly higher than VR of the order of 113 kts, it failed to become airborne. About 5 seconds after reaching the scheduled rotation speed, and after passing the intersection with the disused runway, the aircraft began to decelerate. Veering gradually to the left as it crossed the grass overrun area, it then made contact with a discontinuity or 'step', approximately 40 centimetres high, at the edge of the airfield perimeter road and partial collapse of the undercarriage followed. After crossing the road in a left wing low and nose down attitude the aircraft passed over the inclined sea defences and came to rest in the sea some 50 metres from the shore line. The emergency services arrived at the point on the road adjacent to the crash site within two minutes of the accident. However, about a minute later the aircraft sank, nose first, in some ten metres of water, leaving only the rear section of the fuselage visible. Twenty-nine passengers and the stewardess were rescued, or managed to swim to the shore, under adverse weather conditions. Despite rescue attempts mounted from the shore, by small craft and by helicopters summoned to the scene, fifteen passengers and the two pilots died by drowning.

At 1430LT on 2nd January 1947 an SB-17 belonging to 1386th AAF Base Unit Air Sea Rescue took off from Keflavik airfield, Iceland on a local flight expected to last 2 to 3 hours, however approx 1 hour after leaving the field a snow storm developed and the crew now on instruments and were given instructions by ATC to fly to Prestwick as the visibility at Keflavik was too bad, and so a flight plan was arranged and radioed to the pilot. Expecting this to be just a local flight, the navigator was without proper charts, they had no Wireless Op on board, and little fuel for any marginal error. Drift readings were taken and bearings using the astro compass and radio compass were taken, though stronger than forecast headwinds slowed the aircraft down and it took much longer to reach their turning over Scotland, also heavy cloud hindered any visual contact, but eventually an island, that of Shetland was spotted and it was estimated that they should reach the Scottish mainland within 30 minutes, however, as they continued past their ETA, no land was sited and the Navigator suggested they do a 180 degree turn and head back to the Island, this they did and back over Shetland at approx midnight, they flew a few miles off shore, jettisoned the lifeboat, circled a number of times firing off flares, then with an estimated guess of less than an hours fuel left,the pilot gave the order to abandon the aircraft, then putting it on a SW course on autopilot, he left the aircraft himself. Three of the crew landed on the Shetland mainland itself, one came down on a tiny island in Braewick Voe, and another landed in the sea and struggled to unhitch his chute, but fortunately the wind blew him towards the shore. After a long night with the Co-Pilot suffering a sprained knee, and the Pilot suffering exposure, all were eventually found and taken to hospital where they were given hot drinks and blankets, and treated for their injuries. The Fortress went down in the sea somewhere to the West of the Shetland mainland at a location yet to be discovered. Maybe one day a fishing boat will pull up a piece of wreckage identified as coming off a Flying Fortress and the last resting place of 44-83771 will be known.
Crew (1386 BU):
1/Lt W. E. Dee, pilot,
1/Lt M. H. Craven Jr., copilot,
1/Lt W. L. Pilcher, navigator,
H. E. Shields, flight engineer,
R. M. Gessert, flight engineer.
Source: http://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=99049

The crew left Reykjavik on an anti-submarine patrol flight over the North Atlantic, and was scheduled to arrive at Wick Airport. On approach to Scotland, the crew encountered foggy conditions and the captain decided to divert to Stornoway. Shortly later, the seaplane hit a mountain on the Foula Island, off the Shetland archipelago. Seven crew members were killed while one occupant was seriously injured.
Crew (162nd Squadron):
WO2 Robert Densmore Harvey, †
F/S Elliott Courtney Watson,
WO2 John H. Knight, †
F/S Robert Wilford Ernest Townsend, †
F/O Abram Hildebrand, †
F/O Willis Hilson Lloyd, †
F/O George Gordon Bradshaw, †
P/O James Edwin Bowler. †
Source: http://www.canso11062.mikeharvey.ca/

The airplane departed RAF Tain to attack the German battleship Tirpitz moored in the Fættenfjord northeast of Trondheim. While returning to base the following night, the crew reported his position over Sumburgh at 0210LT then contact was lost. The airplane crashed in unknown circumstances into the sea some 16 miles south of Sumburgh Head. No trace of the airplane nor the crew was ever found.
Crew:
S/L Arthur Patrick Burdett, pilot,
P/O Norman Frederick Bowsher, pilot,
Sgt Leonard William Hanson, flight engineer,
F/Sgt William John Cadger, navigator,
F/Sgt Leonard Watson Fletcher, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Davis, wireless operator,
Sgt Dennis Clifford Martin, air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Kinloss to attack the German battleship Tirpitz moored in the Fættenfjord northeast of Trondheim. While returning to base at Sumburgh, the crew encountered poor visibility. On final approach to the airfield, the airplane crashed on the 1,000 feet high Fitful Head located about 5 km northwest of the airport. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/Sgt Joseph Bryan Bushby, pilot,
Sgt Anthony John Peach, pilot,
Sgt Geoffrey Noel Edward Powell, navigator,
Sgt Ronald Meredith, flight engineer,
P/O Moses Lewis Usher, wireless operator,
F/Sgt John Peter Burton Buckley, wireless operator,
Sgt John Allan Wood, air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Leuchars on an operation off the Norwegian coast. Approaching the target area, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and decided to return to base. Doing so, the airplane went through an area of severe icing when the engines got iced. It crashed near Tingwall and was destroyed. Three crew members were killed and a fourth was injured.
Crew:
Sgt Norman Arthur Blanchflower, observer, †
P/O Tom Thornley Braithwaite Stoker, pilot, †
Sgt Arthur James Woolsey, wireless operator, †
Sgt W. H. Bond, air gunner.

The airplane departed Sumburgh Airport on a maritime patrol flight off the Norwegian coast. While returning to base, it was shot down by a German fighter. The pilot attempted an emergency landing on Grunay Island when the airplane crashed and burnt. All three crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/Sgt Charles Douglas Grant Brown, pilot,
F/Sgt James Henry Oliver, observer,
Sgt Thomas William Coy, wireless operator and air gunner.