R.A.F. CRASHES

Grey River Argus, 15 February 1946, Page 3

R.A.F. CRASHES

(Rec. 9.5). LONDON, February 15. Eighteen persons were killed in tw’o plane crashes to-day. A Dakota of a Canadian Squadron. Transport Command, arriving from Germany, crashed at Chelsham, near Croydon. The Dakota carried 20 passengers and a crew of four. First reports say that eight persons were killed and 12 injured. The aiea, where the Dakota crashed, Chelsham, is called “The Valley of Death” by airmen, because of cfimatic conditions. All the twenty passengers were members of the R.A.F. The Dakota ploughed its way through a woodland before coming to rest in a field near a farm. Some of the injured, who were thrown clear, wandered round the field in a daze. The Dakota originally was intended to land at Croydon. It 'was then diverted to Biggin Hill. A Sunderland of Coastal Command, after signalling that its starboard engine was unserviceable, crashed in flames early in the morning on the foreshore of Le-on-Solent. Ten members of the crew were killed. The Sunderland was outward bound for Karachi. •Ten airmen were killed when a Sunderland crashed at Lee-on-Solent. They included two officers and six n.c.o’s. Blazing oil, covering the sea, baulked rescuers’ efforts. Lifeboats fought the flames for four hours. The death roll of R.A.F. crashes in Britain so far in 1946 totals approximately eighty, including the Dakota and Sunderland crashes, says the “Daily Mail”.