Air crash in skies above Coventry remembered 76 years on

[dutchman]

The collision between an RAF Anson and a Dakota happened on the morning of Saturday, February 19, 1949



Today marks 76 years since an air crash in the skies above Coventry claimed 14 lives. Debris from the mid-air smash was spread over a large are on the morning of Saturday, February 19, 1949, when an RAF aircraft collided with a Dakota at approximately 1,000ft as they flew over Ash Green.

Witnesses reported a loud explosion, a burning plane, and "thousands of pieces" of debris raining down around 10am. The bulk of the wreckage landed in a field off Royal Oak Lane, but some debris also hit homes in Ash Green.

Our archives reveal the intense response to the disaster, with photos showing the many individuals who rushed to assist the stricken planes. Despite valiant efforts from firefighters, police, local nurses, and residents, all 14 passengers and crew aboard the two aircraft perished.

The RAF Anson was on a training mission with four crew members, while the Dakota was en-route from Northolt to Glasgow with six passengers and four crew. Initially, rescuers found eight bodies in the field off Royal Oak Lane, but later discovered six more in nearby fields.

That day the Coventry Telegraph reported a harrowing event where firefighters extinguished flames "that were bursting from petrol tanks of the crashed aircraft"; the wreckage had also struck a chimney on Ash Green Lane. Swiftly on the scene along with the fire brigade were police and nurses from the nearby Exhall Lodge Hospital, and local residents assisted in the grim aftermath by providing blankets and sheets.

Recounting to The Telegraph at the time, Mr M Massey from Exhall Lodge Hospital said: "I saw a large plane flying in flames above the hospital. Suddenly one wing dropped off and the plane crashed two or three fields away from the hospital. I rushed in to the hospital and rang the police and warned the staff."



Alan Teening, a local teenager, described his shock at witnessing the crash unfold right over his home. He said: "The accident occurred just over our house. There was a burst of flames and I saw a plane coming down with thousands of pieces breaking off. The main body of the plane fell in a field nearby. There was pieces of men's suits among the wreckage."

His mother, Mrs A L Teening, provided her own account saying: "I was coming out of my back door when I heard a loud explosion. I looked up into the sky and saw a billowing cloud of smoke. Out of this fell a plane.

Moreover, she described how the aircraft disintegrated: "Parts of it scattered into thousands of pieces, but the main body fell twirling like a sycamore seed."

In a tragic aviation incident, an official statement by the Air and Civil Aviation Authorities confirmed: "The Air Ministry and Ministry of Civil Aviation deeply regret to announce that an Anson aircraft from the RAF station, Middle St George, on a cross-country flight with a crew of four and a Dakota of B.E.A.C on a scheduled flight from Northolt to Renfrew with six passengers and a crew of four came in to collision at Exhall near Coventry today."



They further added, "The occupants of both aircraft lost their lives. Next of kin have been informed."

Marking it as the most severe aviation disaster locally since 1948, the statement continued: "This is the worst civil air crash in Britain since October 22, 1948, when a Dutch air liner crashed and burst into flames at Tarbolton near Prestwick, Ayrshire. Forty were killed."