Global InformationElvetham air crash information
 A Consolidated Liberator GR.VI of No. 200 Squadron RAF. This is the same version of B-24 as KG867 PP-N of 311 Squadron. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 5 October 1945 |
| Summary | Fuel leak leading to engine fire |
| Site | Elvetham, Hampshire, England 51°18′3.40″N 0°53′6.97″W / 51.3009444°N 0.8852694°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Consolidated Liberator GR.VI |
| Operator | RAF Transport Command |
| Registration | KG867 |
| Flight origin | RAF Blackbushe, Hampshire, England |
| Destination | Ruzyně Airport, Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Passengers | 18 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 23 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The Elvetham air crash occurred on 5 October 1945 when a Consolidated Liberator GR.VI aircraft, serial number KG867, of 311 Squadron Royal Air Force crashed at Elvetham, east of Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, following a fire in one of its engines and fuel starvation to another.
The aircraft was about five minutes into a flight from nearby RAF Blackbushe to Ruzyně Airport, Prague, Czechoslovakia. The crash killed all 23 people aboard: five crew, 17 official passengers and one stowaway.[1]
All 23 victims were Czechoslovak. They included nine women and five very young children. The crash was the largest single loss of life in an accident involving Free Czechoslovaks serving in the RAF Volunteer Reserve.[1] After the crash the Czechoslovak Government switched the repatriation of its nationals from air to surface transport.[2][3][4]
- ^ a b "Blackbushe, 5 October 1945". Free Czechoslovak Air Force. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ The Times, 8 October 1945, page 4
- ^ The Scotsman, 8 October 1945
- ^ Halley 1999, pp. 7–24.