A horrible tragedy occurred in Liverpool on July 20, 1965. The Cambrian Airways’ Vickers Viscount crashed near Liverpool International Airport on its way from Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man. Then two crew members and two people who were at the scene of the events on the ground died. Learn more about this tragic event at liverpool-future.com.
Chronology of the events
On July 20, 1965, at 6:17 p.m., a Vickers Viscount (registered as G-AMOL) with two people on board crashed into a mothball-making factory in Speke. Even though it was a little bit rainy that day, the visibility wasn’t bad. So, what preceded the crash?
The aircraft departed Ronaldsway at 16:49 to fly to Liverpool. The flight was carried out at level 70 and the plane was identified by Liverpool radar over Wallasey at 17:08. Next, it was to make a radar approach to runway 26 with a continuous descent, guided by a PPI indicating the aircraft’s path and altitude at the time of landing.
The radar approach was completed half a mile directly before touchdown, after which the aircraft was visible on radar just to the right of the centreline. No radio messages came from the plane after the start of the landing approach. It was at an altitude of 30 to 60 metres and about 40 metres to the right of the centreline. Then, as the witnesses of the event later noted, the plane tilted and turned to the right.
During the turn, the fuselage of the aircraft was located horizontally, but the wings tilted almost vertically relative to the ground. As the aircraft attempted to proceed approximately in the opposite direction to the runway, it rolled to its back and struck the roof of a factory approximately 365 metres to the right of the runway centreline extension and approximately 550 metres from the start of the runway.
After breaking through the roof, the plane hit a strong steel beam, causing it to flip over tail-up. It ended up right side down on the floor with his tail on the steel roof trusses. A fire started instantly and destroyed almost the entire structure of the fuselage.
Victims and investigation
The pilots, Michael Warrington and Peter Kenny, died instantly. At the moment, there were only two managers left at the factory, June Simpson and Elizabeth Farrell. They decided to work late. They died from inhaling the noxious smoke. The workers have already gone home, but only an hour and a half ago, there were 300 people at the place. So, fortunately, if such wording is appropriate, there were no passengers on board. The tragedy could have taken many more lives (more than 350), but its scale is still staggering.
The crew was experienced, but something went wrong. The plane flew off the runway, banked sharply and then crashed into the factory. It resulted in a cloud of smoke and shock waves that could be felt for miles around. A number of investigations aimed at establishing the cause of the tragedy weren’t successful, but it was clear that the plane went out of control at the final stage of the approach.
It is possible to understand what has happened exactly, but finding the reason is much more difficult. After all, it happened in the period when black boxes and digital recorders monitored every second of the aircraft’s flight. Why didn’t those technical advances help? This has remained a mystery and there is still no official answer.
Nevertheless, two interesting facts emerged. The first is Peter Kenny’s (a co-pilot) heart disease. Even if the man could have fainted, it doesn’t fully explain what happened. The second is the flap failure indicated in the accident report.
Accidents can be different and sometimes their causes can be analysed only superficially. However, delving into some stories, you can understand a whole series of socio-political problems characteristic of that time. Such an example is the murder of politician Spencer Perceval by a Liverpool merchant.
