What happened
During a scheduled training mission, an aircraft departed from RAF Ballykelly to perform radar homings on a submarine located within the Lough Foyle and Rathlin Island region. The mission plan included these anti-submarine procedures followed by a navigation exercise. The crew successfully finished the primary task and transmitted their final radio communication at 17:15 local time.
At approximately 17:30, residents on the Isle of Mull reported hearing a low-flying aircraft followed by an explosion. Debris from the accident was subsequently located across the Isle of Mull and the adjacent mainland, though the precise location of the impact site—whether along the coastline or further inland—remained uncertain. The wreckage was discovered by the frigate HMS Volage on December 13, 1953. Later reports indicated that two bodies were recovered from the area a month after the initial discovery.
All 10 crew members perished in the accident. While the state of the debris suggested an extremely high-velocity impact, no official determination regarding the cause was ever reached during the initial investigation.
Findings
In March 1954, additional wreckage was located within the Sound of Mull. Based on this discovery, investigators concluded that the aircraft likely struck the water while executing a right-hand turn in a nose-down orientation. A search of elevated terrain on the Isle of Mull yielded no evidence suggesting the aircraft had merely grazed the landscape.