Avro Shackleton M.R. Mk.3 (Prototype) WR970 crashed at Foolow, 7th December 1956 whilst on a test flight from Woodford

 

Jack Bertram Wales DFC, OBE, TD	Squadron Leader	Pilot	Killed
Geroge Alan Blake	Mr	Flight Engineer	Killed
Charles O’Neill	Mr	Technical Observer	Killed
Roy Ashton Greenhaigh	Mr	Technical Observer	Killed

At 10:42 on the 7th December 1956 WR970 took off from Woodford airfield and flew one and half circuits of the airfield before flying in an easterly direction and climbing up through the cloud in the area.

The intention of the flight was to test the effectiveness of stall warning detectors that had been fitted to the aircraft while flying with the bomb bay doors open and the radar scanner in the lowered position (attack configuration).

At 10:55 the flight engineer on an RAF Lincoln (which was flying at about 8,000ft) saw WR970 in a climbing turn at about 6,500ft, he saw the aircraft enter a spin and go through two revolutions before disappearing in to the cloud at about 5,500ft.  The aircraft was next seen by people in Foolow when it emerged from the cloud to the north of the village, it was described as flying very slowly with the nose down and sinking rapidly and the engines were said to be running very rough and making popping and banging sounds. As the aircraft passed over the village it turned slowly to port and stalled, the port wing tip then struck the ground close to a stone wall and the aircraft cart wheeled destroying the wall and burst into flames.  The rear fuselage was flung into the middle of the field and fragments were finally stopped by the next wall.

The investigation found that engine oil had got into the intake manifolds on the engines and been forced into the cylinders fooling the spark plugs and therefore preventing those cylinders from firing. The only possible explanation for the presence of oil is that the engines had been inverted and oil had flooded the area around the cam shafts and was drawn into the inlet system along the valve guides.  The crankcase and rocker breathers would have also be blocked allowing pressure to build and force oil into the magnetos and supercharger further reducing engine performance.

As well as being a test pilot for Avro, Squadron Leader Wales was the officer commanding of No.613 (City of Manchester) Auxiliary Squadron  which at the time was based at Ringway.  He had flown with the RAF in WWII in the Far East and joined Avro in 1949, he completed just short of 3,150 hours of flying.