London – Prestwick – Shannon – Gander – New York

On December 25, 1954 at 12:00 PM, London – Prestwick – Shannon – Gander – New York experienced a crash involving Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation - BOAC, with the event recorded near Prestwick Ayrshire.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

36 people were known to be on board, 28 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 77.8%.

Crew on board: 11, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 25, passenger fatalities: 24, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The flight from London to Prestwick was uneventful. Throughout the flight the captain kept in touch with the weather conditions and Prestwick Approach Control received the aircraft about 0248 hours. Preceding the aircraft by approximately four minutes in arrival at Prestwick was a Constellation, and these two aircraft were fed into the stack at Prestwick; the Constellation at 4 000 feet and the Stratocruiser at 5 000 feet. The runway to be used was Runway 31 which required the approach to be made from the southeast. The Instrument Landing System (hereinafter called ILS) without the Glide Path and the Ground Control Approach system (hereinafter called GCA) were available on Runway 31. G. C.A. took over the Stratocruiser about 0314 hours and at 0323 hours the talk-down controller 'took over the aircraft. Meantime Meteorological Reports had been passing from ground to air. The talk-down was completed at 0325 hours when the aircraft was 400 yards from the threshold of Runway 31. The approach up to this point had been high but uneventful. A few seconds later the aircraft struck the ground 127 feet short of the threshold of Runway 31, sustaining some damage. It then ran on to the runway and proceeded for some 90 feet where it was again airborne for another 400 feet. It then contacted the runway and sustained considerable damage, and came to rest with the passenger compartment in an inverted position on the south side of the runway about 550 yards from the threshold. Except for the front portion of the fuselage which lay on its port side, severe damage resulted from fire which broke out and spread rapidly, due probably to the partial detachment of the port wing and rupture of the fuel tanks. From the accident there survived seven of the crew and one passenger.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ALSA, MSN 15943, year of manufacture 1949.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 55.4983°, -4.6113°.