Northolt - Kandy

On November 14, 1944 at 12:40 PM, Northolt - Kandy experienced a crash involving Avro 685 York, operated by Royal Air Force - RAF, with the event recorded near Le Rivier d’Allemont Isère.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

10 people were known to be on board, 10 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 3, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft was on its way to Kandy, Ceylon, with a crew of 7 and three passengers on board, among them Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his wife. While flying east of Grenoble at an altitude of 8,000 feet, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with snowstorm and fog. The crew elected to return but the Air Marshal insisted to continue. Shortly later, the four engine aircraft hit the slope of a mountain located 2 km west of Le Rivier d'Allemont and was totally destroyed. All ten occupants were killed. All rescue operations were suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft was found. The wreckage and the dead bodies were eventually spotted by a local resident on June 4, 1945. Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory was appointed Air Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia Command (SEAC). Crew: S/L Gordon Lancaster, pilot, F/L Peter Chinn, copilot, F/L Keith Mooring, navigator, F/L John Casey, wireless operator, F/O John Enser, flight engineer, Cpl John Burgess, fitter, L/A John Burnett, fitter, Sgt Harold Chandler, steward. Passengers: Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Lady Doris Jean Leigh-Mallory.

Aircraft reference details include registration MW126, MSN MW126, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 45.2023°, 6.0402°.