AVRO YORK C.1 CRASH 1 February 1945

AVRO YORK C.1 CRASH 1 February 1945

The aircraft crashed into the sea and was destroyed during an attempted ditching in position 35 degrees 30 North/12 degrees 35 East (off Lampedusa Island) at 1934 hours GMT. This aircraft was one of the support aircraft carrying staff and other personnel involved in the Yalta Conference. There were a series of errors in navigation, the Met forecasts obtained by the wireless operator were out of date and the crew did not obtain any reliable radio bearings to allow them to reach Malta.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.

Fatalities -

Died 1 February 1945 -
Flight Sergeant Alfred Claude Jack WALKER 21 Flight Engineer
Lieutenant Colonel Wilfred George NEWEY DSO TD
Captain Albany Kennett CHARLESWORTH 52 MC Royal Armoured Corps
Captain William Henry FINCH 55 MBE General List
Group Captain Philip Stuart JACKSON-TAYLOR
Mr Armine Roderick DEW 38 MVO First Secretary Foreign Office
Mr Peter Noel LOXLEY 39 First Secretary Foreign Office
Mr John CHAPLIN 34 Second Secretary Foreign Office
Captain Robert MacDonald GUTHRIE 48 RM Kings Messenger
Inspector Harry Joseph BATTLEY 36 Special Branch
Miss Patricia Maxwell SULLIVAN 23 Foreign Office
Died 2 February 1945 -
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Stuart Huntly HOOPER 37 West Yorkshire Regiment

All of the above are at rest in Imtarfa Military Cemetery, Malta

Warrant Officer William WRIGHT 25 At rest in Medjez-El-Babwar Cemetery, Tunusia

Wireless Operator Leading Aircraftman John CHICKEN 36
Flying Officer Arthur APPLEBY 24 Air Gunner
Both commemorated on Runnymede Memorial


The 511 Squadron Operations Record Book recounts the final chapter of Warrant Officer William Wright’s war service:

Feb 1 [1945]
York MW116 ditched off the island of Lampadusa [sic] in position 35 30 N, 12 35 E at 17:15Z [sic]. Wireless message received at 18:40Z [sic] reporting shortage of petrol.

Captain F/Lt A Eaton-Clarke injured, 2nd pilot F/O AVJ Vernieux injured, Navigator F/Lt JW Holdaway injured, W/Air W/O W Wright killed, F/Eng F/Sgt ACJ Walker Killed, Steward Cpl HJ Burge injured, Gunner F/O A Appleby killed. Fourteen passengers missing believed killed. Passengers were members of Prime Minister's staff for "Big Three" conference. (Source: 511 Squadron Operations Record Book February 1945 Form 540 & Form 541 (TNA AIR 27/1970)

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Cumming’s summary account, LAC J Chicken of 511 Squadron also lost his life. The loss of the Avro York and so many of its crew and passengers was the subject of debate and questions in Parliament and of reporting in the Press. A contemporary issue of "Flight International" had this to say:

The Yalta Air Disaster
A full and frank explanation of the loss of the York aircraft carrying Government officials to the Yalta conference was given by the Air Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in Parliament last week.

He said that the party was to have been taken in a Liberator, but one of its engines developed a fault just before the time to take off, and as the trouble could not quickly be remedied, they changed over to the York, which was the only other long-range aircraft immediately available. The York's crew, though experienced individually, had never previously flown together, but the occasion was urgent, and the weather forecast good.

Near Naples the weather broke, and the pilot decided to go on to Malta, but owing to radio distortion there was an error in navigation and they arrived over Lampedusa. After circling for an hour in darkness the pilot obtained a correct bearing, but then had insufficient fuel to reach Malta, 85 miles away, and the aircraft was brought down on the sea. Soon after alighting it broke up. (Source: Flight International, 3 May 1945)

Of the Foreign Office, civilian and Service personnel passengers, 11 did not survive. All are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Photograph credited to Imperial War Museum.