1961 Holtaheia Vickers Viking crash

{{Infobox aircraft occurrence

|name = Holtaheia accident

|Date = 9 August 1961

|image = Eagle Airways Viking Manchester 1960.jpg

|caption = A similar Vickers Viking operated by Eagle Airways in 1960

|Type = Controlled flight into terrain

|occurrence_type = Accident

|Site = Holta, Strand, Norway

|aircraft_type = Vickers 610 Viking 3B

|Origin = London Heathrow, England

|Destination = Stavanger Airport, Sola

|Coordinates = {{coord|59|05|07|N|6|03|41|E|scale:50000|display=title,inline}}

|Operator = Eagle Airways

|tail_number = G-AHPM

|Fatalities = 39

|Passengers = 36

|Crew = 3

|Survivors = 0

}}

The 1961 Holtaheia Vickers Viking crash ({{langx|no|Holtaheia-ulykken}}) was a controlled flight into terrain incident on 9 August 1961 at Holta in Strand, Norway. The Eagle Airways (later, British Eagle) Vickers 610 Viking 3B Lord Rodney was en route from London Heathrow to Stavanger Airport, Sola on an AIR Tours charter flight taking a school group for a camping holiday. The aircraft was making an instrument landing when it crashed {{convert|54|km|abbr=on}} north east of Stavanger. All 39 people on board died.

Crash

File:Holta cross.jpg

The Viking left London Heathrow at 13:29 on what was an estimated two and a half-hour charter flight.World Airline Accident Summary, United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, 1974, {{ISBN|0-903083-44-2}}, page 17/61 Between 16:24 and 16:30 it crashed {{convert|18|nmi}} north-east of the airport on to Holtaheia, a steep mountainside at an elevation of {{convert|1600|ft}}. The crash site was {{convert|30|ft|0}} below the summit."The Queen Sends Message To Families" The Times, 11 August 1961; pg. 8

The aircraft was destroyed and an intense fuel and oil fire followed the impact. The search for the aircraft included an RAF Shackleton and Royal Norwegian Navy ships investigating the fjords in the area."34 Boys in Missing Airliner" The Times, 10 August 1961; pg. 8 The wreckage was found fifteen hours after the crash by a Royal Norwegian Air Force helicopter, {{convert|15|mi}} east from the ILS track.

Fatalities

The 36 passengers were a school party of 34 boys aged 13 to 16 and two teachers from the Lanfranc Secondary Modern School for Boys (now The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy) in Croydon, South London. The three crew members on board also died. The crash was at the time the deadliest aviation incident in Norway.{{cite news|url=http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/1.7743023 |title=Ein heil skuleklasse døde i flyulukka |work=Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation |last=Hagir |first=Lise Andreassen |last2=Oppedal |first2=Mathias |date=9 August 2011 |language=Norwegian |accessdate=28 August 2011 |archivedate=1 June 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601011206/http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/1.7743023 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19610809-1 |title=9 Aug 1961 |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |accessdate=28 August 2011 |archivedate=6 June 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606092130/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19610809-1 |url-status=live }}

Aircraft

The aircraft was a twin piston-engined Vickers 610 Viking 3B serial number 152 and registered in the United Kingdom as G-AHPM.Martin 1975, p. 19 It first flew on 2 January 1947 and was delivered new to British European Airways.

Investigation

The report into the crash put the cause down to "a deviation from the prescribed flight path for reasons unknown".Flight International 4 October 1962, p. 557.

Aftermath

File:Croydon Cemetery – 20180324 115130 (26115897887).jpg, Croydon]]

33 of the boys and one teacher were buried together at a communal grave at Mitcham Road Cemetery in Croydon on 17 August 1961.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Thousands Line Funeral Route – 34 Air Crash Victims in Common Grave |department=News |date=18 August 1961 |page=10 |issue=55163 |column=C }}

Ewan MacColl, who lived in Croydon, wrote a song, "The Young Birds", about the accident.{{Cite AV media notes|url=http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW08734.pdf|title=The New Briton Gazette Volume 2|others=Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger|type=Liner notes|website=Folkways Records|year=1962|location=Washington D.C.}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Rosalind |title=The Lanfranc Boys: the story of the Holtaheia plane crash in Norway |location=Avernes-sous-Exmes |publisher=Craigmore Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-9531890-3-8 }}
{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Rosalind |title=Flystyrten i Holtaheia historien om flystyrten som kostet 39 mennesker livet den 9. august 1961 |location=Sandnes |publisher=Commentum |year=2011 |isbn=978-82-8233-052-7 }}
{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Rosalind |title=The Papa Mike Air Crash Mystery |publisher=Craigmore Publications |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-9531890-5-2 }}
{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Bernard |title=Viking, Valetta, Varsity |location=Tonbridge |publisher=Air-Britain |year=1975 |isbn=0-85130-038-3}}
{{cite magazine |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1961/1961%20-%201138.html |title=The Stavanger Tragedy |magazine=Flight |date=17 August 1961 |page=240 }}
{{cite magazine |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1962/1962%20-%202258.html |title=Stavanger Accident Report |magazine=Flight International |date=4 October 1962 |page=557 }}

External links

{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14444295 |title=Croydon remembers Lanfranc Boys after 1961 Norway air crash |work=BBC News |date=9 August 2011 }}

External links

[http://www.lanfranc-holtaheia.co.uk Lanfranc – Holtaheia, 50th Anniversary, 9 August 2011]

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1961

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Norway

Category:1961 in Norway

Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Vickers VC.1 Viking

Category:British Eagle accidents and incidents

Category:Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain

Category:August 1961 in Europe

Category:1961 disasters in Norway