Avro Lancaster
RAF Serial: R5539
A&AEE
Crew: No survivors
Date: 18th April 1942
Place: Heath Farm near Charlton, 2 miles NE of Malmesbury, Wiltshire

Lancaster R5539 was a new aircraft straight off the Avro production line in Manchester, and had been with A&AEE for twelve days prior to the crash. The aim of the test was to determine the reason for the loss of another Lancaster that crashed when a section of the wing came off.

On Saturday morning, on the 18th April 1942, the aircraft was loaded with a simulated full bomb load of concrete bombs for a test flight. Just after lunch, the aircraft took off from Boscombe Down to evaluate the diving characteristics of a heavily loaded Lancaster. They were to perform six dives from 13,000 feet. The first three dives were at one-third throttle, and the remaining three at full throttle. Speeds in excess of 400 mph were demonstrated in these dives.

After a 1.5hr flight, at approximately 15.00hrs, the aeroplane was observed to pull out of a dive and roll to port, becoming inverted. After initial recovery to normal flight, a section of the port upper wing skin (approximately 5’ 1” x 2’6” ) detached from behind the outer engine and struck the port tailplane, which broke away. This panel was recovered from a field about 700 yards from the impact point. R5539 dived into the ground at great speed and a steep angle, at Heath Farm near Charlton, Wiltshire.

The crash investigation highlighted the failure of the plug rivets securing the skin to the front spar, and immediate action was taken to redesign the fixing of panels in this area.

The R5539 had logged just 15 hours of flying time since delivery.

Two other men are often said to have been on this crew and killed. They are Sgt. Bilton and AC1 Tracey, who were killed on the same day when Airspeed Oxford AS477 of No 3 Pilots Advanced Flying Unit based at RAF South Cerney, crashed at Brinkworth, Wiltshire at 19.59 hours.