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Peak District Air Accident Research |
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Peak District Air Accident Research |
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| Name | Rank- if applicable | Position e.g. Pilot | Status |
| Edgar Croker | Flying Officer | Pilot (u/t) | Injured |
| John Downthwaite | Flying Officer | Pilot (u/t) | Injured |
| George Robinson | Warrant Officer | Instructor | Injured |
One of the two Pilots Ted Croker went on in life to play football for Charlton Athletic and be Chief Executive of the FA until his death in 1992.
The crash site during the afternoon of the 28th December 2005, with different weather to that which prevailed on the day of the crash.
On a cold and wet December afternoon the crew of HN594 set out on a map reading exercise from RAF Seighford near Stafford, the two pilots had carried out their flying training in the more favourable climate of South Africa and were being tested on their map reading in the dark and cloudy skies of the British Winter. After having flown the first leg with F/O Downthwaite as pilot F/O Croker was to take over control of the aircraft, at this point they were approaching the Pennines and the hills near by had their summits enveloped in cloud. As the aircraft was flying low to maintain sight of the ground (roughly 1000ft) F/O Croker knew they would have to climb to avoid the hills which they were about to cross, he made F/O Downthwaite aware that they should start to climb but the aircraft was not responding very well due to icing conditions. While climbing slowly through cloud the aircraft ploughed into the summit of Brown Knoll breaking up over about 50 yards, F/O Croker who was standing between F/O Downthwaite and WO Robinson was thrown through the fabric & plywood structure landing some distance ahead of the aircraft.
Another view taken on the 60th anniversary looking towards Kinder, which was being covered by low cloud being blown over the hill.
Despite being thrown from the aircraft, as the least injured member of the crew, F/O Croker went for help, reaching what at the time was a youth hostel, he knocked on the door of the farm house next door to it and the alarm was raised. It was the following day before the wreck and the other two airmen were found, they were carried off the moor on stretchers.
A general view of where the wreckage from HN594 was dumped near the top of Brown Knoll, taken in the summer of 2001.