The Sutton Wick air crash occurred on 5 March 1957 when a Blackburn Beverley C Mk 1 heavy transport aircraft, serial number XH117, of No. 53 Squadron RAF crashed at Sutton Wick, Drayton, Berkshire, England, following a shut-down of one engine and partial loss of power on another. Shortly after take-off, No. 1 engine was shut down as a precautionary measure then whilst on final approach back to RAF Abingdon, No. 2 engine failed to respond to throttle inputs. The aeroplane struck cables and trees 18 minutes after lifting off.
Of 17 passengers and five crew aboard, all but four were killed in the accident. Two people on the ground were also killed.
An investigation found that a non-return valve in the fuel system had been installed the wrong way round causing two of the engines to be starved of fuel. The technician found responsible for incorrectly fitting the valve was charged under the Air Force Act. Following the accident, the non-return valve was re-designed so it could not be installed incorrectly.
Two RAF officers who took part in the rescue after the crash were highly praised for "refusing to give up while there was hope of finding survivors among the wreckage."
The Secretary of State for Air, George Ward, described the crash to the House of Commons. The Beverley took off from RAF Abingdon near Abingdon-on-Thames bound for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. It was carrying cargo, a relief crew, eight RAF police dog handlers and eight police dogs. There was low cloud at 500 feet (150 m), visibility was less than 1,000 feet (300 m), and an easterly wind of 10 knots (19 km/h).
As the aircraft climbed, No. 1 engine on the port wing developed a fuel leak. The flight crew responded by shutting down the engine and feathering its propeller. The flight crew declared an emergency and requested an instrument approach to RAF Abingdon. The controller alerted emergency services on the ground. A short time later, cockpit instruments alerted the flight crew to a large loss of fuel from No. 2 fuel tank, the second of four such tanks in the port wing. In an effort to stop the leak, the crew de-activated the fuel cocks and boosters for the No. 2 tank, but left them on for the No. 1 tank. As the Beverley turned on to final approach for RAF Abingdon the crew attempted to increase power from the remaining three Bristol Centaurus engines but No. 2 engine – also on the port wing – failed to respond and the aircraft began to lose speed and height.
Knowing he could not reach the airfield, the captain tried to land in a field. However, the aircraft became uncontrollable and struck a number of high tension cables and a group of elm trees that tore the port wing from the fuselage. On impact with the ground, the aircraft destroyed a caravan and a prefabricated house before somersaulting and crashing upside down. John Dawson was in the garden of the Red Lion at Drayton and described what he witnessed:
The plane came towards me flying low when one wing hit a tree. It dived to the ground immediately, crashed through an ordinary brick house and a pre-fab, slid along the ground for about 100 yards and burst into flames. The flames were terrific. It was so hot we could not get near to help those inside, but four of the occupants of the plane were thrown clear... If the plane's wing had not hit the tree it would have cleared the buildings and could have landed in the fields even if it could not have reached the airfield.
The aircraft crashed at 11:00 am, 18 minutes after take-off, near Sutton Wick, 2 miles (3 km) south of Abingdon. 50-year-old Muriel Binnington lived in the prefabricated house. Eyewitness Eric Webb said it was "swept away", and she must have been killed instantly. A 19-year-old called John Matravers from the Southern Electricity Board was in one of the houses to read the electricity meter and was also killed. The tail section of the aircraft crashed on a farmhouse near the main wreckage, trapping and seriously injuring Margaret Stanton in the kitchen of the house. She was later freed by emergency workers.
The distance by air from Abingdon to Akrotiri is at least 2,067 miles (3,327 km). At the Beverley's cruising speed of 173 mph (278 km/h) the flight could be expected take about 12 hours. The plane was therefore carrying a large amount of fuel, and on impact this rapidly caught fire.
A newspaper reported: "Wreckage was scattered over three-quarters of a mile and the force of the explosion sent the main part of the fuselage and tailplane tearing back over the field into the farmyard, carrying with it an inferno fuel and debris." Emergency workers worked for several hours to free survivors and bodies from the charred fuselage
Two civilians on the ground, three crew, 15 passengers and a number of RAF Police dogs were killed in the initial impact and ensuing fire. Two crew, two passengers and one RAF Police dog survived.
Local farm workers were first on scene. Eric Webb was stacking hay. When he realised that the aircraft was about to crash he ran to help. He was joined by Philip Richards, who had been working on a tractor in a farmyard less than 100 yards from the crash site.
The house of one of the farmworkers was at the crash site. He first ran to his house, where he found that his wife had survived and was safe. Richards rescued one man from the wreckage and put him by an apple tree. Another survivor was on fire. In a contemporary interview, one of the rescuers says the survivor came running across the farmyard. 60 years later Richards said he rescued the survivor from the aircraft. Accounts agree that rescuers put the survivor in a horse trough to extinguish the flames and cool his burns.
Webb said "We could hear the pilot shouting for help". He and Richards climbed into the burning wreckage and rescued the pilot, who warned them that there were police dogs in cages in the plane that might be dangerous if they were loose, as their handlers were in the rear of the plane. The pilot asked Webb and Richards to help the 10 men in the tail of the aircraft. But, as Richards told a local newspaper "this was just a mass of flames and we could not get near it".
Richards found one dog alive in its cage and released it. Webb found another suffering from burns and hiding behind a farmyard. An RSPCA inspector later arrived and took the injured dog to a vet in Abingdon. One badly injured dog was put down. Six dogs were found dead in the wreckage.
Fire engines from RAF Abingdon and the Berkshire Fire Brigade station at Didcot fought the blaze.
Eight fire engines raced to the scene and firemen sprayed foam on to the wreckage. As soon as it was cool enough the firemen, assisted by policemen and RAF men from Abingdon, began the search. Within half an hour they had recovered 20 bodies.