Airspeed Oxford Mk.I LX673 of No.21 (P)AFU crashed in Wildboarclough on the 11th January 1946 while on a Beam Approach training flight from Wheaton Aston

 

David Fairless Oliver	Flying Officer	Pilot (Instructor)	Killed
Eric Bulcock	Flight Sergeant	Pilot (Pupil)	Killed

 

The pupil pilot was receiving training in the use of Standard Beam Approach equipment and had been airborne from Wheaton Aston for some 37 minutes when, at 09:45 the aircraft struck high ground towards the northern end of Wildboarclough. It was determined that the pilot was descending along the back beam but had descended too low.

The accident was described in the Manchester Guardian on the 12th Jan. “A Flying Officer and a Sergeant observer from Wheaton Aston RAF station in an Oxford training plane were killed when the aircraft crashed in thick mist on a hill at Wildboarclough near Macclesfield yesterday morning. It is believed that the plane struck the top of a small hill, smashed a wings and then fell backwards about 100ft into a deep gully. The two killed were 162316 Flying Officer G. S. Oliver and 162582 Flight Sergeant Bulcock.”

In the Manchester Evening News on the 11th there was a photograph showing one of the aircraft’s engines that had rolled down the hill after the crash.