On 6th July 1942 the crew of this 1653 Conversion Unit aircraft had landed at Snaith, probably as part of a training flight from their home airfield of nearby Burn. On landing the aircraft ran along the ground as normal for two hundred yards before the port undercarriage leg folded up causing the aircraft to come to rest on the port wing. It was round that the undercarriage indicator lights in the cockpit showed that the legs were correctly locked but a modification that re-routed the hydraulic system had not been carried out to this aircraft. The modication changed a strange effect that when the flaps were selected after the undercarriage legs were lowered the Liberator undercarriage legs may become unlocked. A warning horn in the aircraft to tell the pilot of the unlocked leg did not work because the fuse had blown. The day previous to this, this aircraft was being used to trial a TR9 radio and modified aerial in the rear of the aircraft to try and improve the range. It's possible that the same experiment was being made at the time of the mishap at Snaith.
Crew - Names unknown.
The AM Form 78 for Liberator AL516 is very hard to read. AL516 was purchased without contract by the British Purchasing Commission from the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, at San Diego, California, USA and was flown to the UK by the ATFERO in October 1941. After acceptance it was taken on charge by 150 Squadron at Snaith on 28th November 1941 who began conversion to Liberator MkII's for the purpose of long range transport duties whilst carrying on their Bomber Command operational flying. Five Liberators MkII's, AL506, AL509, AL511, AL512 and AL516 were allocated to them and taken on charge. In January 1942 150 Squadron ceased their conversion and the aircraft were dispersed to various units; AL516 was passed to 1653 Conversion Unit based at Polebrook on 4th January 1942 and required a repair on site being made in March 1942. It was returned to 1653 C.U. on 30th May 1942 who subsequently then moved to Burn on 2nd June 1942. As a result of the mishap on 6th July 1942 at nearby Snaith airfield minor Cat.A/FA damage was the result of the damage assessment and it was repaired on site by a team from Scottish Aviation. When the repair was completed on 23rd September 1942 it was returned to 1653 C.U. at Burn. On 30th September 1942 the aircraft was transferred to 1425 (Communications) Flight, part of No.44 Group Transport Command and based at Lyneham. 1425 Flight was re-designated as 511 Squadron at Lyneham on 10th October 1942 where the aircraft remained. On 31st October 1942 while attempting to land at Gibraltar in a thunderstorm whilst en-route from Malta to the UK it landed too far along the runway, the pilot attempted to go around but stalled and crashed into the sea off the end of the runway. Of the 24 RAF personnel and 10 civilians on board, 9 RAF and 8 civilians were killed. Cat.E2/FA damage was recorded and the aircraft was written off. Many of those on the aircraft were being ferried back to the UK after serving as fighter pilots in the defence of Malta.
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