| Crash site | London/Gatwick airport, Great Britain |
| Airline | British Airways |
| Aircraft | De Havilland DH.86A – G-ADYF |
| Route | London/Gatwick – Cologne – Hannover – Berlin |
| Crew | 4 – 1 survivor |
| Passengers | 0 |
The crash
The plane which was registered to British Continental Airways but operated by British Airways (with whom they were in the process of amalgamation) crashed shortly after takeoff from Gatwick airport. It was a fine but slightly misty night when the aircraft took off at 22:09 in the course of a scheduled mail and freight run to Hannover via Cologne. Instead of straightening up onto the correct course, the plane continued turning left while losing height, and it then crashed into a field just outside the airport boundary and burst into flames.
The crash investigation concluded that the wireless operator’s left shoe had become trapped between the left end of the 2nd pilot’s rudder bar and a fire extinguisher. The pilot could not operate the rudder, and the wireless operator couldn’t remove his foot from where it had become wedged.
The mail
From 1934 the mail connection between Great Britain and the Nordic countries was much improved. A night-route operated Helsingfors-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Hannover-Amsterdam with connection in Hannover to the route Berlin-Hannover-Cologne-London. This route operated until the outbreak of World War II.
Mail from this accident is not mentioned by Nierinck, and very little mail is known.
The only items I have seen are 2 covers addressed to Denmark and 6 covers addressed to Sweden.
In Sweden the mail was forwarded with a special label.
A.
Swedish label.
Size textblock:
126 x 70 mm.
Text translation:
This letter has been damaged in an accident with a mail-carrying airplane.
The size of the labels vary as they were printed on large size paper and later cut from these sheets.
B.
Swedish label.
Manuscript text:
Brevet har skadats
vid forolyckandet av
det engelska postflyg –
planet vid Gatwick
den 15/9 36
Translation:
The letter has been damaged
in the crash of the English mail plane
at Gatwick on 15/9 36
With datestamp used at GÖTEBORG POST OFFICE.
C.
British label.
Size textblock: ?
With red datestamp.
Probably used on mail returned to the senders.
D.
British handstamp.
Colour: Violet.
Size: x mm.
Used in London on Transit mail.
Examples of mail
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Cover from England postmarked LONDON 15 SEP 1936 addressed to Copenhagen, Denmark. On the back are two postmarks from LONDON F.S. 22 dated 16 SP 36. |
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Cover from Northern Ireland postmarked BELFAST 14 SEP 1936 addressed to Vanløse, Denmark. On the back is the postmark LONDON F.S. 22 dated 16 SP 36. |
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Cover from England postmarked LONDON E.C. 15 SEP 1936 to Gothenburg, Sweden with Swedish crash label type A. On the back is a postmark LONDON F.S. 22 16 SP 36 and an arrival postmark GÖTEBORG 17.9.36. |
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Cover from England postmarked BIRMINGHAM 1? SE 1936 to Gothenburg, Sweden with Swedish crash label type A. On the back is a postmark LONDON 16 SP 36 and an arrival postmark GÖTEBORG 17.9.36. |
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Cover from England postmarked LONDON 15 SP 36 and addressed to Gothenburg Sweden. This was forwarded with a manuscript label by the Post Office 1 in Gothenburg on 2. October 1936. |
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Cover from England addressed to Gothenburg Sweden. The cover was probably returned to the sender with the attached label type C used by the R.L.S. at Mount Pleasant, London. |
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Cover from Bolivia with unclear postmark addressed to Gothenburg, Sweden with the Swedish crash label type A. |
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