On 4 June 1967 a

Canadair C-4 Argonaut The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruisin ...

passenger aircraft owned by

British Midland Airways British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

crashed near the centre of

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. Of the 84 people on board, 72 were killed. It is the fourth-worst accident in British aviation history.

Accident

The aircraft, registered had been chartered by Arrowsmith Holidays Ltd and had left

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

at 5:00 am, carrying holidaymakers back from the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

. The approach

controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

vectored the aircraft towards the ILS as soon as it reached the

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

NDB, but the pilots were apparently unable to put the aircraft on the extended runway centreline and called an overshoot. As the aircraft was making a second approach to the airport, the No. 3 and 4 engines suddenly cut out over

. The No. 4 propeller was feathered, but No. 3 kept windmilling. The aircraft became uncontrollable and crashed at 10:09 am local time in a small open area at Hopes Carr, close to the town centre. Despite the crash occurring in a densely populated area, there were no fatalities on the ground. Members of the public and police risked harm to save twelve people from the mangled debris. However, a fire started towards the rear of the aircraft after the fuel tanks had ruptured and wicked back through the cabin, engulfing and killing most of the fuel-soaked passengers. Because it was a Sunday and people were not at work the accident drew a large crowd, estimated at around 10,000, hampering the rescue organisations.

Investigation

Investigators with the

Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA ...

(AIB) determined that the double engine failure had been caused by

fuel starvation In an internal combustion engine, fuel starvation is the failure of the fuel system to supply sufficient fuel to allow the engine to run properly, for example due to blockage, vapor lock, contamination by water, malfunction of the fuel pump or in ...

, due to a previously unrecognised flaw in the model's fuel system. The Argonaut had eight fuel tanks, divided into pairs. Each pair fed one engine, but there was also a cross-feed system that allowed fuel from a pair of tanks to be fed to other engines, if necessary. It was found that the selectors controlling the cross-feed valves were poorly placed in the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

, and difficult to operate, also giving an unclear indication of what was selected. This could cause the inadvertent selection of cross-feed from some pairs of tanks, leading to the exhaustion of fuel in those tanks and the failure of the associated engine. These problems had been noticed by pilots of other Argonauts before, but neither

British Midland British Midland Airways Limited (trading at various times throughout its history as British Midland, bmi British Midland, bmi or British Midland International) was an airline with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close ...

nor the other airlines using the Argonaut (

Trans-Canada Airlines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGrego ...

and

Canadian Pacific Airlines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian a ...

) had reported it to the manufacturer. Without this information, the AIB believed that it would have been extremely difficult for the pilots of G-ALHG to determine the exact nature of the emergency. A fuel problem had been noted on the aircraft five days earlier, but this did not come to light until four months after the crash. A third contributory factor was fatigue: the captain had been on duty for nearly 13 hours. This was within legal and operational limits, but the inquiry noted that he had made several errors in repeating ATC messages. The AIB also examined passenger and crew survivability during the accident.

Post-mortem examination An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

s on the passengers showed that those in the very front of the fuselage had been killed by rapid deceleration injuries, but those further aft had suffered massive crushing injuries to their lower legs that stopped them from escaping the burning wreckage. Investigators found that the bracing bars meant to keep the rows of seats separate were too weak to stop the rows from collapsing together like a

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

, and determined that had the bars been adequately strong, most of the passengers would have been able to escape the aircraft. Harry Marlow, the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, survived but had amnesia and did not remember the accident, and the first officer died. The aircraft happened to be over an open area at the time the starboard engines cut out, and AIB investigators believed that it became completely uncontrollable after the loss of power. There was testimony from witnesses that it made a pronounced turn to port and levelled out before descending into the crash site. This suggests that Marlow exerted a degree of control and successfully avoided hitting houses.

Legacy

In 1998, a memorial plaque was unveiled by two survivors at the scene of the accident. In 2002 a campaign was launched to create a further memorial at the site, commemorating the rescuers who risked their lives to pull survivors from the burning aeroplane; the campaign was supported by the Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

. The second memorial was unveiled that October. A service was held in 2007 to mark the 40th anniversary. On 4 June 2017, the 50th anniversary of the crash (and also a Sunday), a service was led at the time and place of the crash by the

Bishop of Stockport The Bishop of Stockport is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the town of Stockport in Greater Manchester Greater Man ...

Libby Lane Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane (born 8 December 1966) is a British Anglican bishop and Lord Spiritual. Since February 2019, she has served as Bishop of Derby in the Church of England, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Derby. From January 2015 t ...

, and new information boards were unveiled giving details of the crash and the names of those who died. Ian Barrie, an aviation expert, and Roger Boden produced a documentary, ''Six Miles from Home'', for the fiftieth anniversary.

References

External links

Board of Trade inquiry report
7 May 1968, retrieved 5 June 2022. * - 40th anniversary articles about the accident * *

Retrieved 9 October 2009. * *
Recent article on the incident
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockport Air Disaster Airliner accidents and incidents caused by design or manufacturing errors Airliner accidents and incidents caused by fuel starvation Aviation accidents and incidents in 1967 Accidents and incidents involving the Canadair North Star Aviation accidents and incidents in England Disasters in Cheshire

Air disaster An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

1967 disasters in the United Kingdom 1967 in England 20th century in Cheshire British Midland International Aviation accidents and incidents in Greater Manchester Stockport History of Manchester Airport June 1967 events in the United Kingdom Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure

Accident

Investigation

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links