Lancaster accident - NZ Warbirds

[Dave Homewood]

While I was at Wanaka I picked up a nice brochure from the New Zealand Warbirds tent. I have just been absorbing the info within and I noted a really good photo of the RAAF Lancaster "Queenie VI" parked up at an RNZAF Station, flanked by a Hudson and P-40 of the RNZAF. They did a Bonds tour in May 1943.

In the caption to the photo, the following sentence is recorded:
"PS. When returning to England, the Lancaster shown ran off the runway, slid tail first into a hangar and wrecked the CO's car!"

I had never heard this before. I have looked up this aircraft and its tour in the past looking for info because it flew overhead Cambridge on the tour, and was quite something being the first heavy bomber in NZ. Previously it had been flown all the way from Britain to Australia by an RAAF crew, toured there, and even famously flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But I'd never heard of this accident.

Does anyone know the circumstances? Where did this occur? (surely not in NZ?)

Was the aircraft a write-off? If not, how long did the repairs take? Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers
Dave

[corsair67]

ADF Serials website has this info about A66-1 "Queenie":

Ex RAF ED930. Queenie departed UK for Australia on 22/05/43 crewed by Peter Isaacson, Rob Nielsen, Alan Ritchie, Bill Copley, Don Delany, Joe Grose, Doc Page & Claude Spencer. Routed via: 22/05/43 Prestwick - Montreal (15:45 hr), 24/05/43 Montreal - Toronto (02:20), 27/05/43 Toronto - San Francisco (13:10), 30/05/43 San Francisco - Honolulu (13:00), 31/05/43 Honolulu - Palmyra Is (9:45), 31/05/43 Palmyra Is - Canton Is (4:50), 01/06/43 Canton Is - Nandi (6:40), 03/06/43 Nandi - Amberley (8:40), Total Fight Time 74:10 hr. In late 1943 Queenie was taken on charge by the RAAF as A66-1. In October 1943 Queenie had the honour (record) for the largest aircraft to fly under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crashed 26/10/43, Evans Head. The a/c suffered a wind change when landing and ran off the end and ended up in a ditch severely damaged. Repairs needed 10 crates of parts to be sent from Canada and took until 4 April 1944. Initially thought to be a write-off, it turned out to be the biggest field service repair in RAAF history. Used on War Bonds tours in Australia with one trip across the Tasman to NZ. It did about 500 hours flying after the repairs, including converting all the DAP test pilots and 52 Qantas pilots for the Lancastrian operations which began in 1945. Flown from 1OTU East Sale to 7 OTU Tocumwal 08/08/45. To 7AD 14/01/46 for storage. Approval given for conversion to instructional airframe 15/10/46. To Care and Maintenance at Tocumwal for conversion 12/11/46. To 1 OTU East Sale 04/08/47. Approved for conversion to componants 07/06/48. Considering Queenie had no war service it was sold for scrap to a dealer in Maffra VIC in 1948.

[Dave Homewood]

Thank you, that clears it up nicely. Where's Evans Head? Obviously in Aussie. The NZ trip was made well before the crash, it was here in May 1943.

[corsair67]

Evans Head (approx. 730km north of Sydney) is a small coastal town south of Ballina on the NSW north coast.

In 1940 a Bombing and Gunnery School was established there, and even today there is an active RAAF Bombing Range nearby.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks.

[fb6]

Of interest, during the War, there was another Lancaster out here, a Mk.I, PD328, named 'Aries'.- It was adapted for investigatory long-range navigation flights, highly polished and fitted-out with Lancastrian nose & tail sections, fuselage fuel tanks, substituted Lincoln undercarriage, then equipped with a ton of the latest navigational aids and set off from Shawbury, UK, in Oct. 1944, to attempt to circumnavigate the World. It flew via San Fransisco to N.Z. and returned via Ceylon, Cairo and Malta to Scampton, returning by mid-December...I wonder if anyone has any info on this aircraft's arrival & departure ?

In late May, early June 1945, BOAC, operating jointly with Qantas, inaugurated the first east & westbound flights of Avro Lancastrians between Sydney and England....

[Peter Lewis]

I have a few photos of 'Aries', presumably taken in NZ - the background looks to be either Whenuapai or Ohakea. As well as the name 'Aries' in script on the nose, it carried the letters OKZF (radio callsign?) on the fuselage and a large squadron badge emblem under the cockpit on the port side. If interested. I could scan these and post.

[Dave Homewood]

Very interested.

I have seen a photo of Aries but assumed it was a postwar Lancastrian.

When did the Lincoln first go into service then? I never knew they were around as early as 1944. Were they just under construction then? I don't think they saw wartime service, did they?

[Peter Lewis]

Dates I have come up with on 'Aries' PD328 are 21 - 24th August 1946 ie post-war. It was based at Ohakea while it was in NZ.
This was during a round-the-world flight, testing navigational equipment/methods.
Another similar aircraft, 'Aries II' RE364 visited NZ in November 1947 (so presumably PD328 was defunct by then?).
The Avro Lincoln first flew in 1944, went into RAF service in 1945 - too late for WWII.

[corsair67]

Dave, I am currently reading the book "G-For-George: A Memorial to RAAF Bomber Crews 1939-45" by Michael Nelmes and Ian Jenkins (ISBN # 1875593217), and in this book there is mention of Lancaster A66-1
"Q-For-Queenie" which may be of interest to you.

According to information obtained from the logbook of Queenie's navigator Flt Lt Robert Nielsen, Queenie visited New Zealand in June 1943, and the intinerary was:


11 June
0620 (Flight time 7.40)
Melbourne - Ohakea.

12 June
0900 (Flight time 4.35)
Ohakea - Christchurch.

13 June
0915 (Flight time 6.35)
Christchurch - Ohakea
Via Dunedin - Invercargill - Queenstown - Westport -
Wellington (Cook's Tour of South Island).

14 June
0830 (Flight time 3.00)
Ohakea - Auckland
Via Napier-Hastings -
Rotorua - Hamilton.

19 June
1000 (Flight time 8.30)
Auckland - Melbourne
Via Gabo Island.


Apparently while taking off at Whenuapai, Queenie swung off the runway at 70 knots and hit a car before coming to rest against a concrete hangar. It was repair by the Flight Engineer, P.O. Don Delaney - so the damage to the Lancaster can't have been too bad?

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Craig, so that pinpoints the date that it did a flypast over Cambridge nicely, 14th of July 1943, obviously between Rotorua and Hamilton. Thanks.

[flyjoe180]

homepages.paradise.net.nz/wclark/page9.htm

1943, 11-19 June

VISIT OF RAF AVRO LANCASTER ED930 "QUEENIE VI"

(Flight lieutenant P.S. Isaacson). On board as a passenger was Lord Burghley, representing the British Government. The Lancaster left the U.K. on 22 May and flew via the Atlantic, Canada, the USA, the Pacific and Australia in seven stages. The final stage was from Melbourne to Auckland on 11 June. It is reported that mail was flown across the Tasman but no special markings were applied. Leaflets in support of the Third Liberty Loan were dropped over a number of New Zealand cities. They could be redeemed for a Bond worth one pound. The Lancaster made a direct Auckland-Melbourne flight on 19 June, 1943.

[flyjoe180]

From the same page as above:

1946, 21-24 August

VISIT OF THE AVRO LANCASTER PD328 "Aries"

(Squadron Leader J.E. Aldridge) of the Empire Air Navigation School, RAF Shawbury, on a long distance navigational exercise. The visit was also treated as a "Goodwill Flight" as the U.K. Minister of Food had written a letter of gratitude to the Prime Minister of New Zealand thanking him for support in the "Food For Britain" campaign. This letter was reprinted in the form of a leaflet, copies of which were dropped from the Lancaster over several cities. "Aries" made the flight from the U.K. to N.Z. in 59 hours 51 minutes. The modified Lancaster flew over Wellington before landing at RNZAF on Ohakea.