Swinderby - Swinderby

On August 23, 1949 at 12:00 AM, Swinderby - Swinderby experienced a crash involving Vickers 619 Wellington X, operated by Royal Air Force - RAF, with the event recorded near Swinderby AFB Lincolnshire.

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

3 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 66.7%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew was engaged in a local training sortie. On final approach, the pilot in command decided to abort and started a go around. He completed a circuit vertical to the terrain and then started a second approach to land. Again, he abandoned this second approach and a third as well few minutes later. During the third go around maneuver, while at a height of 600 feet, the pilot made a turn to the left to join the approach path but did not realize he lost altitude. By night and low visibility, the aircraft hit tree tops and crashed in a wooded area located 1,5 mile from the airfield. Two crew members were killed while the copilot was seriously injured. It is reported that the crew apparently tried to maintain a visual contact with the ground and did not refer to their instruments at the time of accident.

Aircraft reference details include registration NB115.