1942 Herefordshire TRE Halifax crash
Tfu Handley Page Halifax · Accident
From RAF Defford, Worcestershire to RAF Defford
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 11 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Handley Page Halifax
- Aircraft type
- Handley PAGE HALIFAX
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- V9977
- Operator
- Tfu
- Onboard fatalities
- 11
- Route
- From RAF Defford, WorcestershireTo RAF Defford
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
V9977 was an Handley Page Halifax II that had been sent to the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) at RAF Defford to be used as a flying testbed for the H2S radar.
On the afternoon of 7 June 1942, one of its Rolls-Royce Merlin engines caught fire and led to the aircraft crashing near the England-Wales border, killing all eleven crew-members. Among the dead was Alan Blumlein of EMI, who was well known as the inventor of stereophonic sound recording and the 405-line television system used in the UK until 1985.
Investigators determined that improper engine maintenance/assembly procedures caused the accident. It remains the deadliest crash in the history of military test flight in the UK.
The crash
On the weekend of 6 and 7 June, Lovell and the team met with Alan Blumlein and two of his associates from EMI to examine the system with an eye to beginning production. After the EMI team left to return to their hotel, Lovell flew in V9977 and received strong returns from Gloucester, Cheltenham and several other towns at previously invisible ranges.
The EMI team decided they should see this for themselves, and took off in V9977 at about 2:50 pm on the 7th heading for the Bristol Channel. At 4:20 pm the aircraft was seen over the Forest of Dean with its outboard starboard engine on fire. Shortly after, the left wing broke off and the aircraft rolled over and crashed in a field on the Courtfield estate in Lydbrook near Welsh Bicknor on the north side of the River Wye. All aboard were killed.
News of the crash did not reach Defford until 7:35. At 9 pm, Lovell and O'Kane were driven to the site to retrieve the top secret cavity magnetron from the wreckage.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1942 Herefordshire TRE Halifax crash” (revision 1336106820, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1942 Herefordshire TRE Halifax crash
- Revision
- 1336106820 · 2026-02-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q20977783
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1942 Herefordshire TRE Halifax crash" (page 63233486, revision 1336106820)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An RAF Halifax used as a radar testbed from RAF Defford, and the crash is counted as a military test flight. The article: "It remains the deadliest crash in the history of military test flight in the UK."
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.