Liverpool Aviation Accidents & Incidents (images replaced)

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Just located a photo of an incident I vaguely recall, but did not witness. The closely cropped (with scissors) print was used in MAS 'Flypast' of December 1976. The issue was located easily from the '119' clue, and is the work of Paul Clarke. The print was obtained from the 'swop' box in the MAS clubroom and kept safely all these years by Don Stephens.

No date is provided in the magazine caption apart from 'recently'. Loganair Trislander G-BBNL called at Liverpool twice in 1976: 6th November for fuel Aberdeen-Swansea and 25th November Swansea-Aberdeen. When a ground support 'strut' was not put into place between the underside of the rear fuselage and apron surface, the Trislander was prone to 'tail-tip' when parked due to the weight of the third engine mounted on the tail. No damage was done and with the centre of gravity corrected, the aircraft settled back into the correct attitude on the nose leg.





Another print hidden in the Don Stephens envelopes shows an incident that resulted in the writing off of a Liverpool based aircraft. At the time Percival Proctor G-AIAA was owned Mr. T. Wyman-Hales, but available for use by the 'Double-Alpha Flying Group', aviation enthusiasts affiliated to the Merseyside Group of Aviation Enthusiasts (MGAE).

On Saturday 25th November 1961 it was flown by Double-Alpha members down from Speke to Burnaston (Derby Airport), however the landing was not a good one, ending up in a hedge outside the airfield boundary Whoops. No one was seriously hurt.

Any aviation archeologists who might fancy finding this aircraft will have an impossible job as it is buried deep in the back-fill of City rubbish that forms Otterspool Prom.



Aviation Safety Network adds little: aviation-safety.net/wikibase/18921 - although all references I've found (paper & internet) quote the date as 26th November 1961, Phil Butler's Liverpool Airport logs note the incident as being a day earlier. The CAA G-INFO record just states 'damaged beyond repair, Burnaston' and registration cancelled 3rd January 1962.

[Deleted]

I remember this well. At least, as well as anyone can after 60 or so years!

Here is my recollection: PHB (seen here standing to the left of the road sign, next to the person who I believe was the pilot), had got word that there were some Proctor spares available at Burnaston, which at the time was the base of Derby Airways, forerunner of British Midland of course. It was a grass strip, but despite this, Derby regularly operated Argonauts and DC-3s from there, but not when it had been raining, when the traffic normally operated from Elmdon (Birmingham). Burnaston closed when Castle Donington was converted to civil use in 1965 and is now the site of the Toyota factory near the A50.

Phil had arranged for the flight to take place and one of the regular pilots (who I will not name here) agreed to take the aircraft. I think the other passenger may have been 'Dick' Roach, or possibly Don Stephens, though I'm not 100% sure of this. One seat was left empty, in order to accommodate any spares which were acquired. I remember the morning of the flight, because I went down to hangar 50 to help prepare the aircraft, eg pushing it out of the hangar. It was a significant departure from the usual local flight and more than usual preparations were required.

As I understood it from Phil later, the approach and landing were normal, but as mentioned, the grass surface when wet was not an aid to braking and the airfield surface resembled an upturned saucer. It quickly became clear that braking action was poor and despite the best efforts of the pilot, AA continued beyond the runway threshold, (such as it was), through the hedge surrounding the airfield, across the road seen in the photo, and into another hedge. Of course, the main damage was to the engine and its housing, and given that AA was 15 years old by then and thus out of production (hence the trip to collect spares), the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

With regard to the date, I would take the unusual step of contradicting PHB's normally immaculate record-keeping. I have checked the dates and 26th February 1961 was a Sunday and that was my recollection. I think it was the only day that the people selling the spares were able to be present.

The final problem was that of getting home. I don't remember the route they took, but getting from Derby to Liverpool on a Sunday afternoon was not easy with the regional system of British Railways at the time.

I hadn't realised it had gone into landfill at Otterspool Prom. What an ignominious end to its life!

I have a b&w photo of it sitting outside hangar 50, if you would like me to post it, Brian

[viscount]

G-AIAA running up outside the pre-War 'Aero Club' hangar, with No.50 hangar beyond. Photo is dated 3rd March 1951.



An uncluttered 'portrait' of a Proctor waiting to go flying outside hangar 50 with hangar 39 behind. Photo dated July 1960.