75 years ago – 4 July 1948

At approximately 3 pm GMT on 4 July 1948, two aircraft collided in dense cloud about 4-1/4 miles NNW of Northolt Aerodrome. All 32 people onboard the Swedish DC 6 (SE-BDA) and seven onboard Avro York (MW 248) died in the accident. At the time, it was the worst loss of life in an air accident in Britain.

Due to poor weather, both aircraft were holding overhead Northolt; the DC 6 at 2,500 ft (the crew were awaiting ATC clearance to divert to Amsterdam). Approximately six minutes before the collision, the York crew had been cleared to descend from 4,000 ft to 3,000 ft. They were asked to report when [level] at 3,000 ft, but they did not do so.

The accident Board noted several errors by the flight crews and ATC staff. However, the precise reason for the collision could not be determined. The Board concluded that the cause was in “all probability to be found in the field of human fallibility on the part of those responsible for the control of the aircraft from the ground or the flight of the aircraft in the air”.

A memorial service for the victims was held at the Swedish church, Harcourt Street, Marylebone, at 4 pm on Friday, 9 July.

One of the passengers who perished in the DC 6 was Douglas Pobjoy, 54. He was cremated at 10.30 am on 9 July at Golders Green Crematorium. Some days later, his ashes were scattered by his widow and daughter from an aircraft as it flew over the old Pobjoy factory buildings at Rochester airfield.

Below,  a photo taken shortly before leaving Box Farmhouse, Woodmancote, Cheltenham, on route to Stockholm, and DRP with his Triumph motorcycle during the early 1920s.