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Interesting tale XS894


wingman5

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Funnily enough I saw this particular crash was being re discussed on another forum a few months back.. The crash report is held at the National Archives in Kew and it popped back into discussion because its original FOI timescale came under review and they've decided to withhold the report until 2085!

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11511536

 

Some people decided that this was definite proof that there was UFO activity and HMG was hiding something.. But the real reason would seem to be that the original report was catalogued by Kew in 1995 when they took possession and it was filed with other air crash reports of the time, reports that may contain "sensitive" information on the nuclear weapons of the time (you'd be surprised at the amount of nuclear related reports on aircraft and weapons that are still withheld, even those from earliest tests, given the current climate this is a sensible option). It's likely that Archives just decided that the document was easier to keep track of and conserve if it was with the rest of them.. For those who still insist on conspiracy the Archives have actually made a digital copy of the report for those of us who want to cough up £3.50 ;) 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10340424

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I believe there are live voice recordings of this incident (between ATC, Shackleton and Lightning)  some where.  Was reading on a Lightning Facebook page, the son of the Pilot concerned commented.  Very interesting, personally I reckon it was an accidental ditching but hey... 

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You may say that but you'd be amazed by the amount of people that actually believe the UFO story! (the internet brings in some odd people on occasion..) A few years ago a FOI request was made to the MoD regarding the scrapping of '894 and they gave a reply saying that they couldn't locate the correct record, people took this to mean that something was definitely being hidden and somehow they decided that sometime in 1970 the scraps of XS894 was transported to Larkman AFB in the States. It seems that some people are convinced that the aircraft crashed as the result of encountering a supersonic object that was lit up like a Christmas Tree.. I always knew those folks at Avro were ultra modest about the performance of the Shack ;)

 

As the report shows the crash was most likely caused by a severe reduction in airspeed that resulted in a stall at low height, the throttles were found to be past the gate and into reheat when they raised the aircraft. Obviously Schaffner had attempted to correct his mistake but it was too late. The aircraft hit the sea relatively gently allowing the pilot to attempt a bail out while the plane remained afloat, during which he was sadly lost at sea. Granted it doesn't have the same sensationalism of an alien abduction but real life rarely does..

 

C.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

 

Just popped up on my recommendeds, after reading the crash report I suspect that the man being interviewed has taken some creative license with his memories.. Anyway, shows the lair of the Lightning in a much more recognisable state than it is today!

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""I suspect that the man being interviewed has taken some creative license ""...... I suspect he has taken something much stronger.... and

hallucinogenic  !:P

 D

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