Southampton Airport Crash - Miracle on the M27

On 26th May 1993 an aircraft was inbound to Southampton (Eastleigh) Airport awaiting permission to land after a short flight from Oxford, so early that the airport had not even opened when the plane took off. The 12 year old Cessna 550 Citation II executive jet had seating for 9 people but today carried no passengers, just the pilot and co-pilot making the regular scheduled commute between the two airports. 

Following a rainy night, the runway was now wet and carried a large amount of water. Eight passengers were due to board the aircraft for a short flight to Eindhoven and on this morning the airport was actually unaware of their arrival otherwise they would have had to prepare for a very early arrival before the airport officially opened at 0700. 

Chris Rundle was the Air Traffic Controller at Southampton Airport that morning. Carrying out pre-opening checks while the second ATC was getting ready to carry out his airfield inspection in heavy rain, down below the Fire Crew were carrying out their early morning inspections ready for the airport opening. Three years previously he had been involved in an incident that had made headlines when a pilot of a British Airways jet had been sucked out of the cockpit window, Chris being the one to talk the aircraft to a safe landing where they found that miraculously the pilot, Captain Tim Lancaster, had survived the ordeal. But today was his last shift for a couple of weeks as he was getting married at the end of the week so he was looking forward to the wedding and some time off.

Suddenly a call came through from the private jet asking for permission to land early, claiming it had permission from the Operations Department to land before they opened, Chris advised him that the airport was closed and that the weather was terrible, but the pilot insisted on landing on Runway 22. At this point he could not give them permission because firstly the airport was not open which made them unlicenced an secondly it was not safe to do so. He said that he was attempting to land on a very wet runway with a  15 knot tailwind, the pilot acknowledged and made his approach.

The heavy thunderstorm was making visibility difficult, but the wheels touched down on the runway, the aircraft was now suddenly out of control and refusing to stop. The end of the runway was getting closer and the pilots frantically tried to reduce speed but nothing could be done.

The nose of the Cessna 500 smashed through the barriers and plunged down an embankment and onto the M27, spinning 180 degrees and finally coming to a stop in the central barrier, crashing into two vehicles along the way. The aircraft began leaking fuel onto the motorway and to the horror of those who could see it, the plane then burst into flames.

Chris Rundle looked on in horror from his position in the tower. “As the aircraft landed it was obvious that it was going too fast and was apparently aquaplaning so as it went off the end of the runway I sounded the crash alarm and luckily the Fire Crew responded immediately, one vehicle heading for the end of the runway, the other heading for the motorway slip road to get to the aircraft where they found that the crew had evacuated the aircraft and commenced firefighting long before the Eastleigh Crew arrived.”

Incredibly there were no deaths. The two pilots managed to get out and the emergency services were on scene to deal with the crash. Like a well-oiled machine, the motorway lanes were closed, traffic diverted and wreckage removed. The official Air Accidents Investigation Branch report a year later announced that the cause of the crash was blamed on the pilot landing with a tail wind that was outside the limits of what should be attempted.

In 2021 this incident appeared in my book Britain’s Lost Tragedies Uncovered where images of the plane crash taken by passing motorist Martin Cole and an interview with police officer Adrian Walder built up this story and showed that this was one disaster that could have been so much worse if it had been later on in the morning or if the motorway had been crowded with traffic. 

The Fires of Bridlington

Bridlington Fire Station today

Fires devastate communities, destroy buildings and cost countless lives all year round. Even a small town like Bridlington has been no exception and over the years has had a number of major incidents that have led to several buildings being destroyed forever, with a modern day tragedy that left the town in shock. 

1660 - Reports of a fire at a Bakers in High Street. The first fire engine would not be introduced into the town for another hundred years. 

20 October 1906 - Bridlington Spa had only opened in 1896 before fire consumed the building. The elegant glass dome was one of only a small amount of the building that survived, but with the dedication of the builders the New Spa Theatre was opened less than a year later. 

25 August 1923 - The popular venue for drinking, dancing and music caught fire one Saturday when hundreds of tourists were in the area, many of whom descended in the vicinity for a closer look. Situated at the top of The Promenade, Floral Hall was gutted and had to be demolished, never to be rebuilt. 

29 January 1932 - Bridlington Spa once again became the focus of a fire fight as another blaze threatened to destroy the theatre, but luckily the damage was not as bad and it was re-opened just months later (pictured above in 1911 postcard).

Royal Victoria Rooms on fire

22 September 1933 - The Royal Victoria Rooms was the former Town Hall but also had multiple uses as an entertainment venue (cinema), several bars, meeting halls and a number of homes attached. On the night of the fire 19 year old Kathleen Hackett woke up to find the building ablaze and ran across the roof top to awaken her neighbour, her actions eventually saw all 10 people leave the building and no lives lost. The local police helped the businesses by dragging jewellery and bar items into the street away from the fire, thus saving livelihoods in the process. In 2017 Kathleen's grand-daughter and the Town Mayor unveiled a plaque dedicated to her bravery at the site of the Rooms. 

World War II - A number of air raids led to fires and collapsed buildings across the town, 27 people were killed and dozens more injured. The rescue and recovery efforts led to the first ever George Cross (Thomas Alderson) and a George Medal (Ernest Barker) being awarded. 

Pictured here is Prince Street in August 1940 after Woolworths and Foley's Cafe was hit by bombs leaving over a dozen trapped the the cellars. 

22 August 1995 - Fire takes hold of Emmanuel Church on Cardigan Road, over 70 fire fighters tackled the overnight blaze but the church was too far gone to save. The remains were cleared away and a new more modern building rose in its place, opening in December 1998.

11 November 2010 - In what is probably the most tragic incident to hit Bridlington in modern times, a cigarette started a blaze at a family home in Clarence Avenue. By the time emergency services had got to the house, three children were dead and their mother Samantha Hudson was in a critical condition. Two years later she became the fourth victim of the fire. Today they are buried together in Bridlington Cemetery. 

Fire can take hold any time, it gives no warning and takes no prisoners. It takes seconds to check your smoke alarm and could save your life and the life of your family. History has shown us that no buildings is immune, some of the most iconic places have been hit by fire - The Cutty Sark, Notre Dame Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Kings Cross Underground station and the Bradford City Football ground. 

Contact me at shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk for more information on historic fires or to purchase copies of my book on the Royal Victoria Rooms. 

Oil Tanker Disasters

Since oil was first shipped across the seas there have been  disasters that befell the ships that transported it, taking a thick, black liquid across a stormy patch of water would be bad enough, especially during the two World Wars when torpedoes would cause devastation to these ships, but it was the modern day that saw the worst environmental disasters as these ships were being built bigger, and the threat of losing one of these to the rocks became more frequent. 

Today there are fewer tanker disasters, regulations now say that any tanker must have a double bottom in order to at least give the cargo a chance to be recovered if a ship comes to grief. But it hasn't always been that way. 

1967, 18 March - The supertanker Torrey Canyon grounds on Seven Stones Reef off the Scilly Isles after the captain decides to take a short cut in a journey starting the month before in Kuwait. The ship soon breaks up but all 119,000 tons of oil was released into the sea creating Britain's worst oil spill. The government realised that the slick was heading for the southern coastline and so decisions were made to bomb the wreck and burn off as much oil as possible. The bombings were a success and the images of the flaming wreck of the Torrey Canyon made headlines around the world. 

1978, 16 March - After her rudder jammed off the coast of France, the crew of the VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) Amoco Cadiz now found themselves needing to shut the engines down in order to quickly get repairs underway. But the strong winds and heavy seas grounded the ship on the coast of Brittany. Attempts to save the ship were beaten back and the ship was smashed on the rocks, being pulled off and thrown back on again, in just over a week the wrecked ship had released her entire cargo of 220,000 metric tonnes onto the beaches. Dig deep enough today and the black sand still bears the scar of the disaster. 

1989, 24 March - The VLCC Exxon Valdez was making her way through Prince William Sound in Alaska when she grounded on rocks following her departure just moments before. 37,000 tonnes of her cargo of crude was spilled but thankfully the ship was saved, as was most of her cargo still remaining on board. This was the worst oil spill in US history until 2010 when it was overtaken by the explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. 

1992, 3rd December - The double-bottomed tanker Aegean Sea ran aground off the Spanish coast of
Galicia in bad weather. Normally the disaster would be bad enough with the spilling of the cargo, but before the day was over the ship had caught fire and a huge blaze lit up the coast for several days. 67,000 tons of oil was spilled but before the fire the salvage teams did manage to save 12,000 tons by pumping it out in time. The ship later broke up and her anchors are now a nearby monument. 

1993, 5th January - The Liberian registered Braer loses power in a storm and runs aground at Garths Ness in the Shetland Islands. For the next few days the ship slowly loses oil into the raging sea as salvage teams try to get the ship off the rocks. But in less than a week the ship breaks her back and spills the entire cargo of crude oil into the sea, devastating the coastline and causing the deaths of thousands of birds. Incredibly the stormy weather actually helps disperse the oil, but that which came ashore was bad enough. 

1996, 15th February - While heading to the Texaco berth in Milford Haven, the Sea Empress grounded after developing a steering issue. Although tugs managed to pull her off the rocks and steady the ship, thousands of tons of the 128,000 ton cargo of crude were already spilling into the sea. The next few days saw even more disaster as the ship was grounded again as bad weather prevented the ship from being moved, eventually the Sea Empress was towed into Milford Haven and the ship repaired. The pilot in charge of the ship was demoted after a two day inquiry found him guilty of incompetence. 73,000 tons of oil was leaked into the sea, becoming the third larges spill in Britain, the 12th largest in the world. 

1999, 12th December - The Erika was making her way through the Bay of Biscay when heavy weather caused the ship to break in two. The tanker sank and caused an oil spill over hundreds of miles of French coast. 

2000, 13 November - During a storm a tank on board the tanker Prestige burst off the Spanish coast releasing heavy fuel oil into the sea off Galicia. Despite efforts to contain the spill and save the ship, she sank on 19th November the little fuel oil remaining on board had to be pumped out of the wreck using deep sea ROV's at 4000 meters down. 

Thankfully today tanker disasters and major oil spills are not as common, new regulations, ship safety and clean-up operations have all been implemented to limit the damage should anything like this happen again. But accidents do happen and, as is clear with these few mentioned here, the weather plays a big part in causing these vessels to come to grief. Hopefully disasters on this scale are now a thing of the past. 

Mass Murder on the ferry Prins Carl

Many people will have heard of the terrorist attack on the liner City of Poros in 1988 which left nine people dead, but who has heard of the murders that took place on 16th May 1900 on board the Swedish ferry Prins Carl? This was a case that shocked Sweden at the time and led to a brutal execution. 

25 year old criminal Johan Filip Nordlund had just been released from prison following his conviction for theft, something he did not stop at even after multiple sentences for the same type of crimes over and over again. But this time he was going to do something off the scale - so he boarded the Prins Carl in the port of Arboga, bound for the capital Stockholm. 

The steam driven Prins Carl was small vessel; built in 1874 she was 114 feet long and was able to carry out short trips across the inland rivers and lakes for overnight passages between ports. On this night however, the crossing would not be a calm one, as the ship sailed around 2000 hours and headed down river on its journey east. 

At around midnight Nordlund began shutting doors around the vessel, armed with a revolver in each hand, a knife and a dagger in his belt, he began shooting at anybody he came across. Pulling out the knife he then proceeded to attack the captain, Olof Ronngren and one of the female passengers and a young boy, one of the crew being shot in the shoulder in the meantime. In the smoking room a group of men playing cards heard the commotion and tried to get out, finding the door locked from the outside they tried breaking out, eventually being successful - but Nordlund simply gunned them all down as they fled for their lives. The killer ran down to the engine room after he shouted down for full speed ahead, this aroused suspicion as the ferry was already doing that, the engineer barricaded himself in the engine room and thankfully escaped being shot. 

In just a few minutes the Prins Carl was a scene of carnage. Dead and injured lay around the decks, chaos as he smashed the place up as he went around looking for more victims. His aim was to rob the passengers and make away with the ships cash - something that he actually failed to do. By now another steamer was getting close and looked like it was going to investigate, so rather than carry out his robbery instead he single handedly launched one of the ships lifeboats and rowed away from the scene. He had left a total of five dead and eight injured and had only managed to steal a total of SEK 845

Escaping from the Prins Carl, Nordlund got a change of clothes from somewhere and that morning made plans to flee the area. As he waiting on the platform of a train station he was arrested by police following a tip off from a member of the public after news went out with a description of the wanted man. He confessed that he was about to commit further carnage on the train. 

Johan Nordlund did not even try to justify his crimes, nor did he plead insanity or try and avoid the inevitable sentence. On 10th December 1900 he was executed with an axe and later buried. For the Prins Carl, she went to several different owners and photographs of her in 1934 show a burned out hulk of a vessel on t

he stocks under repair. She was sold in 1936 and renamed Lars Simson, before being scrapped in 1939. 

Fire in Shirley Towers

In 2017 Britain was shocked by the images of the burning Grenfell Tower in London in which 72 people were killed, but the fires that have been taking over high rise apartments have been a problem for many years. One such fire occurred on 6^th April 2010 in the 15 storey Shirley Towers in Southampton.

That evening a lamp set the nearby curtains on fire within Flat No 72 on the 9^th floor and very soon a call was made to Hampshire Fire and Rescue at 2010 hours. In less than two minutes burning debris was falling from the window onto the ground below. Firefighters soon arrived on scene just four minutes after the call and rigged themselves up for an entry into the apartments to tackle the blaze, although there was instant confusion as to the layout of not only the flat but the entire building. Entering the flat it soon became apparent that the smoke was reducing visibility to almost zero.

In the meantime the temperatures inside where the firefighters were exceeded 1000 degrees Centigrade and at this point it was figured that the teams would have to withdraw. Four attempted to escape – two required hospital treatment for burns when they got back down, but two others were nowhere to be seen. James Shears and Alan Bannon had been overcome by intense heat and tangled up in a bunch of cables that had suddenly appeared from the ceiling when the fire had caused the trunking to melt.

Trapped in the burning flat, the two firefighters died at their post less than half an hour after the first call. The other teams work hard into the night to extinguish the raging inferno, with success by 2230 hours and now the casualties can be removed from the site.

The tragic deaths of two firefighters hit the service hard, they were popular and hardworking guys who were professional and experienced. To lose their life in a tower block fire was shocking especially when it was revealed that the block did not have sprinklers.

The legacy of the deaths of Shears and Bannon are that sprinklers were ordered to be fitted to several tower blocks and the wiring within these flats will now be encased in metal rather than plastic that can melt. For firefighting equipment, the anti-snagging strap allows things to fall onto the air bottle without hooking on and holding down the wearer.

But for Shirley Towers, the flat was later refurbished and today it looks like nothing had ever taken place. For the two firefighters who perished that night, their names are on the memorial outside Hampshire Fire and Rescue HQ, but the true legacy of these two people is that the memory of their bravery lives on. 

Yorkshire coast fishing boat losses

Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe and has been home to a harbour of fishing vessels for as long as the town has existed, being this close to the North Sea it would be impossible for fish not to be involved in the town’s infrastructure. But with any industry, there are always accidents and fatalities, this town having had more than its fair share over the years. Here are several fishing vessel wrecks that have been from the town or involved Bridlington in some way, but bear in mind that with so many wrecks it would be impossible to document them all in such a short blog, for the victims of the North Sea run into the thousands. The Magdalene Ann for example (above) went down on 12th August 2013 following a collision. 

The coast is already littered with wrecks from years ago, the cliffs alone at Bempton, Flamborough and Speeton are the scene of many a tragedy. There are two memorials in Flamborough village, the first was a double tragedy in 1909 when the Two Brothers sank while trying to rescue the crew of the Gleaner, a total of seven people killed. History repeated itself on 7^th May 1984 with the Carol Sandra and the North Wind, again both vessels lost, seven crew killed. The memorials are testament to the bravery of the crews of these boats when a fellow fisherman is in trouble.

On the evening of 21^st May 1987 the stern trawler Anmara with a crew of three was reported as overdue from its home port of Scarborough. Bridlington lifeboat was launched to conduct a search along with Scarborough and Filey boat as well as the RAF and fishery protection vessel HMS Lindisfarne, but the boat was long gone. The following day a body and wreckage was found in Cayton Bay. There were no survivors, the victims now being mourned in the towns up the coast, a grave of one of them in Bridlington cemetery sporting an image of the lost trawler. 

On 25^th March 1993 the Heritage set sail with her two crew members,  skipper Tony Maplebeck and his 21 year old crewman Shaun Rowley, and fished with another boat named Katie Jane 12 miles off the coast of Scarborough. The Heritage had snagged her nets on the seabed and the crew decided to wait for the tides to turn before freeing them. But the Katie Jane returned soon after and the Heritage was gone. A search of the area by ships and helicopters found nothing but wreckage. The Heritage was later raised and towed into harbour.

The trawler Diana was involved in a collision off the coast on 6^th June 2003 with the cargo ship Santa Vitoria. The boat was damaged and taken in tow but later sank, the skipper John Collinson having a lucky escape.

But four years later Collinson was involved in a second mid-sea crash when his vessel Flourish was in collision with the cargo ship Nautica and the crew abandoned ship. Collinson was killed in the collision which caused Flourish to sink, the other crew members were taken on board Nautica where they were transferred to a lifeboat and taken back to Bridlington.

There was drama on Bridlington south beach on 9^th April 2013 when the Serene grounded. The crew were rescued but as the tide came in the vessel was completely submerged. I stood on the south beach myself as the vessel was slowly consumed by the incoming tide, wondering what was going through the mind of the people who owned her, sailed her and now had to salvage her. Would she be another one of the coast's many victims, or was there hope for her to once again be put to sea. Only time would tell. 

The East Yorkshire coast will continue to be the scene of shipwrecks, but thanks to modern technology there will be quicker rescues, less risk to life and the ability to navigate away from danger. For those who have made the ultimate sacrifice over the years, they are remembered by those who go out to sea today. The memorials are testament to that.

The Nimrod Disasters

Photo by Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation

The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft first came on the scene during the Cold War in 1967 and would go on to have a successful career spanning 44 years before being retired to be replaced by the new Poseidon’s. But during that career a number of crashes blighted the excellent safety record of this workhorse of the skies.

A modified version of the De Havilland Comet, itself a plane with a chequered history, the aircraft suffered its first disaster on 17^th November 1980 when a multiple bird strike upon take off from RAF Kinloss caused the Nimrod XV256 to crash into a wooded area killing two pilots. The rest of the crew survived.

Four years later a flare ignited on board Nimrod XV257 and the crew landed the aircraft and successfully evacuated. Although there were no casualties the aircraft was written off.

It would be over a decade before the next crash and in this case two happened within months of each other. XW666 had taken off from RAF Kinloss on 16^th May 1995 for a routine test flight, on board were the crew of seven and everything seemed to be going well. But 35 minutes after take off the engine warning light signified that engine number 4 was on fire. While the crew were performing their normal operating procedures engine number 3 light illuminated. The crew realised that this was a precarious position and the decision was taken to attempt to land on the water. Incredibly they ditched the aircraft in a controlled manner and the seven crew were all rescued, the wreckage sinking into the Moray Firth. The aircraft was later recovered.

On 2 September 1995 the Nimrod XV239 was taking part in the Canadian International Air Show much to the delight of the thousands who had come to see the three-day event that is held in Toronto annually. The seven crew members prepared the aircraft and it took off from Pearson Airport for its allocated display slot, the weather being very good for the display and with cameras rolling the entire time. As the aircraft made its mid-air turns it suddenly dived into the waters of Lake Ontario to the horror of all those watching. All seven crew were killed. The crash was blamed on the aircraft stalling at low speed and gaps in training were identified for crews taking part in air shows.

2^nd September became a tragic anniversary for another reason 11 years later when XV230 carrying 14 crew members was taking part in a mid-air refuelling over Kandahar, Afghanistan. The aircraft was on a routine reconnaissance mission on Taliban insurgents and all seemed well on board until suddenly a fire erupted on board. The crew attempted to land the Nimrod but witnesses then saw the entire aircraft explode and the burning wreckage scatter over the land below. There were no survivors. An inquiry established that there had been previous issues of fuel leaks and others began to highlight the safety of such an old aircraft that by now had been serving for almost four decades.

So an aircraft with a career spanning so long had quite a fan following and was always a welcome sight at air shows, but it was the right thing to do to withdraw this aircraft from service. The loss of five aircraft in its lifetime shows that the crews were highly trained and despite the loss of life these crews were professional to the end. Today there are memorials to the loss of the aircraft over Afghanistan and the cockpit salvaged from the Moray Firth crash is today on display at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster. A bench at the National Memorial Arboretum pays tribute to all victims of the crashes.