Canberra’s Emergency Halt

[Dave Homewood]

Canberra’s Emergency Halt

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, October 12.

A bird entering the port engine of a Royal New Zealand Air Force Canberra taking off at Singapore today caused it to swing so violently that the pilot called for the runway barrier to be raised—and the aircraft crashed into it at about 60 knots.

The braking set the wheels on fire.

No-one was hurt but the aircraft suffered superficial damage. The bomber, flown by Flight-Lieutenant R. D. Branks, of Invercargill, had built up about 118 knots in speed on its take-off run at the R.A.F. station at Tengah when the bird was seen to enter the port engine.

The loss of power caused the aircraft to veer sharply but the pilot maintained control by closing the throttle and using rudder and brake.

He called for the runway barrier and the control tower raised the nylon barrier up into position. The aircraft door was jettisoned to let the crew escape but the Canberra was stopped on the overrun. The accident occurred at 2.55 p.m. New Zealand time. The Canberra belongs to No. 14 Squadron, normally based at Ohakea, which is at present exercising with the Far East Air Force. Damage to the port engine has not been assessed yet. Flight-Lieutenant Branks was one of the R.N.Z.A.F.’s Vampire aerobatic team a few years ago. His navigator was Flying Officer H. A. Bunn.

PRESS, 13 OCTOBER 1962

[Dave Homewood]

Which Canberra was this? I cannot match it to any of the entries on NZDF Serials.

www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzcanberra.htm

[davidd]

Dave, this would appear to be NZ6104, on 8th October, which "suffered a birdstrike" on this date, whilst taking off for an R/P strike on China Rock range; "This required a new windscreen to be fitted." However no mention of any damage to the engine, although as the above article states, personnel did see the bird enter the engine, and that "damage to the port engine has not been assessed". This all took place during VANGUARD III (1 - 19/10/62), which included four Canberras of 14 Squadron. Unknown to me if this aircraft traveled back to NZ with other 3 aircraft, or followed later.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks David.

[tbf2504]

No accident of that nature detailed in NZAP201 (RNZAF Aircraft Accident Records)

[camtech]

As Paul said, I can't find an accident report no.
'04 had a short chequered career, being the aircraft that had an undercarriage failure at Ohakea, landing on its belly in 1961, then this incident, and finally crashing into sea off China Rock in 1964.

[Dave Homewood]

Sorry I doubled up on posts, so have merged the relevant replies back into one thread.