Bit of a long shot this! A civil aircraft, probably a light single or twin, is reported to have crashed at Harty Ferry, Kent, on 16 February 1968. The aircraft may have been involved in smuggling – whether contraband or illegal immigrants, I do not know – and probably it was a crash landing as it is reported that two people ‘disappeared’ after the aircraft came to ground. The incident was serious enough for questions to be asked about it in Parliament. Can anyone offer the identity of the aircraft and/or more information concerning the crash? I’ve searched on the web but it doesn’t help me and as it seems that, nowadays, all online UK newspaper archives are ‘pay to view’ – unless you have access to a subscribing UK public library, the nearest of which is rather a long way from where I am – I can’t check the national newspapers of the following day.
By: avion ancien - 24th June 2012 at 12:11
Well nobody has answered the obvious question…
Did Mr Harrison get his salvage payout…?!
:diablo:
For at least a partial answer, see http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2226.new;topicseen#new (reply #13).
By: avion ancien - 20th June 2012 at 22:07
The bearded lady, perhaps? I wonder from which travelling fair she was fleeing then!
By: flyernzl - 20th June 2012 at 21:31
Interesting bit of sexist assumption there.
Perhaps it was a fleeing female and her male companion?
By: avion ancien - 19th June 2012 at 19:17
Well, Mr Bearded Man or your female companion, if you’re reading this then maybe you can finish the story!
By: Lyffe - 19th June 2012 at 18:49
Only one other reference to the incident in The Times, dated 19 Feb 1968:
Kent police sent fingerprints to Scotland Yard, taken from the French Cessna that crash-landed at Harty Ferry in the Swale Estuary, Kent, on Friday.
Board of Trade examiners discovered it ran out of fuel. The search for a bearded man aged between 25 and 30, and his girl companion, thought to have come from the aircraft, has been extended throughout Britain.
By: Lyffe - 19th June 2012 at 12:27
email sent aa.
By: thelondonpiper - 19th June 2012 at 11:42
Depends which side of the Swale the ‘plane ended up, but the Swampies (oops, sorry, residents of the Isle of Sheppey), are infamous for their nefarious activities. Probably locals returning from a drink fuelled booze cruise. :dev2:
By: avion ancien - 19th June 2012 at 08:14
The problem is, as I understand it, that one cannot now access the photograph – at least, via the Times online archive – unless one pays (or does so at certain UK libraries). So if you can, do post a copy of the photograph, Lyffe, or a hyperlink to it.
By: Lyffe - 19th June 2012 at 07:51
The photo to which I referred in my previous post suggests, to my untutored eye, that it was not badly damaged. Wheel marks leading to Cessna are clearly visible in the mud; it appears to have simply tipped over towards the end of the landing run. The registration is clearly visible on the wing.
By: avion ancien - 19th June 2012 at 07:25
F-BOGL obviously was salvaged, repaired and flew again, as it was registered to the Aéro Club Central des Metallurgistes at Persan Beaumont on 28 November 1969. It was struck from the French civil register on 5 December 1983, the given reason being that it had been destroyed.
At the time of its unscheduled arrival in the UK it was registered to Michel Lardemer of Rosey. I doubt that he was a very happy bunny when he was told where and in what condition his aeroplane was, as it had been registered to him only on 1 February 1968!
By: Nige - 18th June 2012 at 23:54
Well nobody has answered the obvious question…
Did Mr Harrison get his salvage payout…?!
:diablo:
By: Lyffe - 18th June 2012 at 21:41
From The Times; 17 Feb:
A light aircraft which was seen by a coastguard to crashland in the Swale estuary at Harty Ferry near Faversham early today (the correspondent was writing on the 16th), started a police search in northeast Kent.
The aircraft, a Cessna with French markings, hit a patch of mud 12 ft deep, 30 ft out from the bank of the Swale, and turbed over.
When police and the fire brigade arrived they saw deep footmarks in the mud leading to the sea wall. An RAF helicopter searched the lonely marshland but nothing was seen of the occupants.
It was later discovered that a man and woman, wearing muddy overalls and carrying hand luggage, were seen walking through the village of Oare, a mile away from the Harty Ferry direction, before 8 am.
Later Kent police said they had no idea who they were looking for or what the occupants might have been doing in the aircraft.
Abbeville, Feb 16 – The Cessna aircraft was stolen here last night, Abbeville police said today. Interpol are in touch with the British police on the incident.
There’s also an aerial photo of the crash site.
By: avion ancien - 18th June 2012 at 21:09
Just to put this one to bed, it transpired that it was Cessna F.150G F-BOGL.
By: avion ancien - 17th April 2012 at 21:14
That sounds like a joke about………..how many illegal immmigrants can you get into a Cessna 150? The only response of which I can think is definitely not PC!
By: WJ244 - 17th April 2012 at 19:19
Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I was hoping that it was something a bit more exotic than a Cessna 150 and that it was still there. Harty Ferry / Leysdown is literallly opposite me on the Thames estuary and I was hoping for headlines along the lines of ” Buried Smugglers Aircraft Reclaimed From The Sea” but it is not to be.
By the way I think we can fairly safely say that illegal immigrants were not involved as there aren’t many places to hide them in a Cessna 150 unless it was specifically stolen by illegals to get to England. No doubt more will be revealed when the newspaper archive is up and running.
By: avion ancien - 17th April 2012 at 18:15
Ah, sorry, I didn’t read your post carefully enough, WJ244. I now note that you said that: “…..all Kent newspapers archives are to be available free online…..”. Future tense, which I read as the present tense – until I tried to search! Thus I must bide my time.
By: Moggy C - 16th April 2012 at 00:02
At least we know it was a C150 and probably French registered
Moggy
By: avion ancien - 15th April 2012 at 22:36
Thank you, WJ244. I’ll try the Kent newspapers tomorrow. After all, if they didn’t report the incident then………..!
By: WJ244 - 15th April 2012 at 18:29
This helps a bit but no mention of smuggling or illegal immigrants
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%200304.html
At www.kentonline.co.uk they say that all Kent newspapers archives are to be available free online. I should think the Kent Messenger would have reported the incident so when the archive is ready you may find more there.
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April 15, 2012 at 5:31 pm