The Air Despatch Association
Roll of Honour: 55 Company RASC (AD)
29th May 1961 - Singapore
Hastings WD497 of 48 Squadron RAF was on a routine training flight, dropping at Seletar, when it crashed near the 10th milestone, Yio Chu Kang Road. On board were eight Air Despatchers and five aircrew, there were no survivors. The crash was beside a kampong (village) and pieces of the aircraft hit a house and narrowly missing a young boy playing there, some 3o yards from the crash. A sow and its litter of eleven piglets were killed by the crashing aircraft.
A Newspaper photograph of the wreckage sent in by John Davidson
The Yio Chu Kang Road today on Google Maps
The wreckage was recovered, taken to Seletar and laid out in a hanger for the crash enquiry. The Court of Enquiry laid the blame for the crash on the pilot losing control after the loss of an engine. RAF Form 1180 Accident Card
The men who died were:-
- Cpl G. Barnard
- Cpl A. C. Howitt
- L/Cpl H.W. Smith
- Dvr A.D.G. Box
- Dvr A.C. King
- Dvr D. McG. Tennant
- Dvr F.E. Smith
- Dvr D. Wroe
- FL. Lt. A Lyne, Pilot
- Fl. Lt. G.E. Hickman, Co-Pilot
- Fl. Lt. P.G. Tarling, Navigator
- Sgt. J.A. Wells, Flight Engineer
- Sgt J.J. McConnell, Signaller
Graves of five of the Despatchers at Kranji Military Cemetery, Singapore
Cpl Howitt - Cpl Barnard - L/Cpl Smith - Dvr Wroe - Dvr Box
Dvrs King, Smith & Tennant were cremated
Photo: David Patrick. Taken on the 50th Anniversary of the crash.