Crash Site RAF Vulcan 24 October 1958 (Detroit, Michigan)
USA /
Michigan /
Grosse Pointe Park /
Detroit, Michigan /
Ashland Street
World
/ USA
/ Michigan
/ Grosse Pointe Park
World / Canada / Ontario / Essex
historical layer / disappeared object
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On 24 October 1958, Vulcan B1 XA908 of No. 83 Squadron was en route from Lincolnshire, England to Lincoln, Nebraska ("Lone Ranger" Exercise) when it crashed following a complete electrical systems failure. All six crew members were killed. No one on the ground was injured; the aircraft impacted at a steep angle, resulting in a relatively small impact area.
The failure occurred at around 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and the backup system should have provided 20 minutes of emergency power to allow the aircraft to divert to Kellogg Airfield, at Battle Creek, Michigan, or one of several airports in the Detroit area. Due to a short circuit in the service busbar, backup power only lasted three minutes before expiring and locking the aircraft controls. XA908 then went into a dive of between 60-70° before it crashed, leaving a 40-ft (13 m) crater in the ground, which was later excavated to 70 ft (21 m) deep in an unsuccessful attempt to find the cockpit of the aircraft. All six crew members were killed, including the co-pilot, who had ejected.
The co-pilot's ejector seat was found in Lake St Clair, but his body was not recovered until the following spring.
Although property damage was extensive, there were no ground fatalities and only one person on the ground required hospitalization.
The six bodies were buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Trenton, Michigan; alongside the bodies of 11 RAF student pilots killed during the Second World War in training accidents at nearby Naval Air Station Grosse Ile.
www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/July-2008/Mayday/index...
The failure occurred at around 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and the backup system should have provided 20 minutes of emergency power to allow the aircraft to divert to Kellogg Airfield, at Battle Creek, Michigan, or one of several airports in the Detroit area. Due to a short circuit in the service busbar, backup power only lasted three minutes before expiring and locking the aircraft controls. XA908 then went into a dive of between 60-70° before it crashed, leaving a 40-ft (13 m) crater in the ground, which was later excavated to 70 ft (21 m) deep in an unsuccessful attempt to find the cockpit of the aircraft. All six crew members were killed, including the co-pilot, who had ejected.
The co-pilot's ejector seat was found in Lake St Clair, but his body was not recovered until the following spring.
Although property damage was extensive, there were no ground fatalities and only one person on the ground required hospitalization.
The six bodies were buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Trenton, Michigan; alongside the bodies of 11 RAF student pilots killed during the Second World War in training accidents at nearby Naval Air Station Grosse Ile.
www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/July-2008/Mayday/index...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan#Accidents_and_incidents
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 42°21'41"N 82°55'54"W
- Geographic Township of Maidstone (former) 6.4 km
- Former CN CASO Subdivision 11 km
- Geographic Township of Tilbury North (former) 28 km
- Geographic Township of Gosfield South (former) 29 km
- Former CN Walkerville Subdivision 39 km
- Geographic Township of Sombra (former) 57 km
- Former CN rail alignment 63 km
- Geographic Township of Moore (Former) 73 km
- Former CN Walkerville Subdivision 79 km
- Former CN Rail alignment 102 km
- Windmill Pointe Park 0.3 km
- Riverfront-Lakewood Park 0.4 km
- Canal : Fox Creek Boatway 0.5 km
- Alfred Brush Ford Park 0.8 km
- East Canal 1.3 km
- Grayhaven Community (Gar Wood mansion) 1.3 km
- Carstens Elementary / Middle School 1.4 km
- Maheras-Gentry Park 1.5 km
- Heritage Townhouses 1.6 km
- East Detroit 2.1 km
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