Avro 685 York accident at Lampedusa, Italy, 1 Feb 1945 (MW116)

Accident narrative

The four engine aircraft was enroute from Great Britain to Malta. While approaching Lampedusa Island by night, the crew lost his orientation and circle for about an hour when the captain decided to ditch the aircraft that crashed into the sea and was destroyed in position 35 degrees 30 North / 12 degrees 35 East (off Lampedusa Island) at 1934 hours GMT. It appears all 15 occupants were killed. Some of them were members of the staff that was involved in the Yalta Conference. Crew (511th Squadron): F/Sgt Alfred Claude Jack Walker, flight engineer, F/O Arthur Appleby, air gunner, W/O William Wright, LAC John Chicken, wireless operator. Passengers: Lt Col Ivor Stuart Huntly Hooper, Lt Col Wilfred George Newey, Cpt Albany Kennett Charlesworth, Cpt William Henry Finch, Cpt Philip Stuart Jackson, Mr Armine Roderick Dew from Foreign Office, Mr Peter Noel Loxley from Foreign Office, Mr John Chaplin from Foreign Office, Cpt Robert MacDonald Guthrie, Mr Harry Joseph Battley, Mrs Patricia Maxwell Sullivan from foreign Office. Source: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/36813-remembering-today-1-february-1945-avro-york-mw116/

Probable cause (official findings): There were a series of errors in navigation, the Met forecasts obtained by the wireless operator were out of date and the crew did not obtain any reliable radio bearings to allow them to reach Malta. The aircraft circled over Lampedusa for over an hour and it seems there was some confusion about whether they thought they were at Malta and could not pinpoint their position.