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A rare visit by a 'Spencer
Airways' aircraft in 1947 was involved in a serious accident.
The aircraft had just been delivered from the USA and bought
by Mr Spencer. The 1947 Croydon Dakota accident occurred on 25
January 1947 when a Spencer Airways Douglas C-47A Skytrain (Dakota)
failed to get airborne from Croydon Airport near London, and
crashed into a parked and empty CSA Douglas C-47 destroying both
aircraft and killing 11 passengers and one crew member. It was
snowing and the airfield at Croydon was covered in dark snow
clouds when at 11:40 the Spencer Airways Dakota attempted to
depart bound for Salisbury in Rhodesia. The C-47A had just lifted
from the runway at Croydon when the starboard wing dropped, then
the aircraft turned to the left and the port wing dropped. The
pilot was seen to apply full starboard aileron but the bank angle
increased to 40 degrees with the port wing tip only a few feet
from the ground. As the aircraft reached the perimeter track
of the airfield, the aircraft levelled and then swung to the
right. The aircraft bounced on the ground and crashed head-on
into a parked CSA Douglas C-47; both aircraft caught fire, and
were subsequently destroyed. Eleven of the 18 passengers and
one of the five crew died. Seven of the 11 survivors were taken
to Croydon General Hospital but only two had to stay for further
treatment. Two mechanics who were working on the CSA aircraft
escaped without injury. The Ministry of Civil Aviation instituted
"an inspection of Certificates of Airworthiness, Certificates
of Safety and crew licences" at airfields under their control
to ensure these documents were in order. The aircraft did not
have a C of A, nor a valid Certificate of Safety, and no member
of crew held a Navigators licence nor a licence to sign a Certificate
of Safety. |
