Castle Archdale - Castle Archdale

On March 14, 1945 at 02:33 AM, Castle Archdale - Castle Archdale experienced a crash involving Short S.25 Sunderland, operated by Royal Air Force - RAF, with the event recorded near Mt Crownarad Ulster.

The flight was categorized as survey / patrol / reconnaissance and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

12 people were known to be on board, 12 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 12, crew fatalities: 12, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew left RAF Castle Archdale at 0203LT to localize German submarine cruising off the Irish coast. Weather conditions were marginal and the visibility was limited due to a cloud layer at 1,000 feet. The night was very dark. The aircraft passed over the village of Kellybegs and continued to the north when it hit the slope of Mt Cró na Roda (Mt Crownarad) at a height of 471 meters. All 12 occupants were killed. Crew (201st Squadron): F/Sgt R. D. A. Becker, F/Sgt S. B. Frith, F/O V. Howkins, Sgt J. R. Mansfield, F/Sgt J. G. Robinson, F/S G. R. Kennedy, Sgt F. N. G. Ford, F/Sgt D. J. T. Twist, F/Sgt C. J. Ryder, F/O R. Delby, Sgt R. F. Woodward. Source: http://www.csn.ul.ie/~dan/war/ml743.htm

Aircraft reference details include registration ML743.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 54.6593°, -8.5019°.