Silver City Airways - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

There are three recorded accidents involving Silver City aircraft, two of which were fatal.

The worst accident in company history occurred on 27 February 1958. Bristol 170 Mark 21E Freighter registration G-AICS operating a charter flight from the Isle of Man to Manchester on behalf of Manx Airlines crashed in bad weather on Winter Hill near Bolton, Lancashire, destroying the aircraft and killing 35 of 39 passengers (all three crew members survived).

The aircraft was chartered by the Isle of Man motor trade to take members to the Exide battery factory in Clifton Junction, and it hit the northeast slope of Winter Hill in thick fog at a height of approximately 1,460 ft and burst into flames, as a result of a navigational error committed by the first officer.

The second fatal accident occurred on 1 November 1961. Bristol 170 Mark 32 Superfreighter registration G-ANWL operating a scheduled service from Cherbourg to Guernsey crashed after losing height during a missed approach to Guernsey Airport, damaging the aircraft beyond repair and killing two out of three crew members (all seven passengers survived).

Having failed to gain height following a power increase to go around, the aircraft struck the ground with its starboard wing and cartwheeled due to a malfunctioning automatic pitch coarsening unit of the starboard propeller.

The non-fatal accident occurred on 19 January 1953. Bristol 170 Mark 21 Freighter registration G-AICM operating a non-scheduled cargo flight from West Berlin crash-landed near Tempelhof Airport as a result of fuel starvation when bad weather at the destination forced it to return to Berlin. Although the accident damaged the aircraft beyond repair, both pilots survived.