1952 Luqa Avro Lancaster crash

The 1952 Luqa Avro Lancaster crash was a military aviation accident that occurred in Malta on 30 December 1952 when an Avro Lancaster bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from RAF Luqa into a residential area in Luqa. Three of the four crew members on board the aircraft and a civilian on the ground were killed. The crash also caused extensive property damage. The cause of the crash was engine failure.

Background

The aircraft involved in the accident was an Avro Lancaster ASR.III Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft, serial number SW344. The aircraft had been built during World War II, and after the conflict ended it was modified for maritime search and rescue. It was delivered to No. 37 Squadron RAF in April 1951. This type of aircraft were outdated by 1952, and the squadron was planning on replacing its Lancasters with Avro Shackletons in 1953.

The aircraft was crewed by pilot John C. E. Smith, co-pilot Charles Glanville, radio operator John Crawford Logan and flight engineer Wilfred Morris. It was Glanville's first flight as a captain.

Accident

On the day of the accident - Tuesday 30th December 1952 - the aircraft was to take part in a training flight. After routine checks were performed, the aircraft's engine was started up and it taxied to Runway 06 of RAF Luqa. At 11.40am, as it was making its takeoff run, the inboard port Rolls-Royce Merlin engine began to cut out intermittently, and the engine stopped working completely as the aircraft took off.

With three out of its four engines still working, Smith took over control of the aircraft and attempted to return to the airfield to make an emergency landing. However, the aircraft's speed was too slow, its altitude was too low and it was turning to starboard, and less than three minutes after takeoff it crashed into a residential area in the town of Luqa.

The aircraft hit a house and then cartwheeled down St George Street, hitting three more houses in the process. The aircraft then caught fire, with some debris falling into New Street. The aircraft's tail landed in a building site where a war-damaged house was being rebuilt, while parts of the wings and engines landed on houses, in gardens or in the street, with one of the engines landing in a garden some 200 meters away. The crash left a trail of destruction of about 275 m, with a number of houses being severely damaged or destroyed.