Listed as Shacleton Association Memorial No. 337a. During the aircraft's 40 years of service with the RAF and the South African Air Force from 1951 to 1991 16 aircraft were lost with 150 fatalities.
The total tally of Shacklcton losses includes 14 catastrophic and fatal crashes involving 141 deaths. One 'incident' involved the loss of two aircraft on the same night, and a mid-air collision between them was recorded as 'the least improbable' cause. The totals include the loss of the Mk 3 prototype WR970 on 7 December 1956, and of the South African Air Force Mk 3 on 8 August 1963. After four fatal accidents in the six months between November 1967 and April 1968, Mr Merlyn Rees, then Under-Secretary for Defence (RAF), answered a private notice question in the Commons on the type's safety record, particularly in view of its by then already long service. He stated that there was no evidence to show fatigue as a common cause of the recent spate of accidents, indeed that there was no evidence of any single common factor. The aircraft involved, he said, had flown respectively 5,971, 3,620, 3,814 and 2,525 hours, relatively low figures compared with the total fatigue life of the design, and all had had major refits. There was no evidence that the age of the aircraft had contributed to any of the accidents and no valid reason for grounding Shackletons. The details of the catastrophic accidents show only two possibly prevalent causes - engine overspeeding perhaps attributable to the complicated "translation unit' between the hubs of the contra-rotating propellers, and the sheer operational necessity of carrying out quite violent low level manoeuvres in a very heavy aircraft. The following loss details are taken from 'The Avro Shackleton' - Chartres
25 June 1952: Mk 1 VP261 of No 120 Squadron with some No 240 Squadron personnel on board. Twelve killed, one survivor. This Aldergrove-based aircraft was taking part in an anti-submarine exercise in the North Sea. After dropping two smoke bombs on a submarine it was seen to turn, level off to start a second run and then crash into the sea. A stall in the final turn or loss of power due to the master fuel cocks being knocked off were advanced as possible causes. The latter possibility resulted in a general warning to crews and to the fitting of a cover over the fuel cocks to nullify the risk of an unharnessed crewman falling across them during low level manoeuvres.
8 October 1952: Mk 1 VP286 of 236 OCU. Fourteen killed, no survivors. The aircraft was on an air-to-sea gunnery exercise in the Moray Firth in daylight. Nothing was heard from it to indicate trouble but at 13.44hrs observers at a considerable distance saw a bright flash and black smoke in the Tarbat Ness area. A stall during the type of steep turn employed on such exercises was suspected as the cause and pilots were warned of the necessity to apply adequate power during such manoeuvres.
11 December 1953: Mk 2 WL746 of No 240 Squadron. Ten killed, no survivors. The aircraft, from Ballykelly, was on an antiXsubmarine and navigation exercise off the Argyllshire coast. It reported its submarine exercise completed at 17.15hrs and promised a further call at 17.45. The second call was not made and a witness on land reported hearing an aircraft very low overhead, its engines stopping and an explosion. Wreckage was found in the sea indicating 'a very violent impact'. No cause was advanced
12 February 1954: Mk 2 WL794 of No 38 Squadron. Ten killed, no survivors. The aircraft took off from Luqa (Malta) at 02.16hrs and reported it was carrying out a radar approach on to a submarine to be followed by a practice attack. A flash and a glow on the surface of the sea were seen from a ship. No cause was advanced.
11 January 1955: Mk 2s WG531 and WL 743 of No 42 Squadron. Eighteen killed, no survivors. In this, the most catastrophic of all the Shackleton accidents, the two aircraft left St Eval at 10.14 and 10.20hrs respectively to carry a 15-hour patrol and search exercise to the south of the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland. The first aircraft off, captained by Fig Off George Board, was 14 minutes late due to reasons beyond his control and the second (Pilot Officer Wood) left early, thus reducing the normal half-hour separation time to six minutes. This factor tended to lend credence to the inevitable theory that the two aircraft were lost in a collision, possibly following each other in a 'creeping line ahead' search pattern or by practising homing on to one another.
7 December 1956 Mk 3 Prototype WR970 on test by A.V. Roe Ltd from Woodford. Four killed, no survivors.
10 January 1958: T-4 VP259 of the Maritime Operational Training Unit. Two killed, four injured. This Kinloss-based aircraft was carrying out roller landing practice and hit trees on 800ft high ground near Elgin. The dead were the two pilots. No cause was declared.
9 December 1958: Mk 1 VP254 of No 205 Squadron. Eleven killed, no survivors. The aircraft, code letter 'B', took off from Labuan Island, Northern Borneo, at 05.48hrs local time on a routine anti-piracy patrol. Its Captain was Fit Lt W.A.S. Boutell and in addition to his normal crew of nine he had aboard Mr A.R. Miller, the Acting Deputy Police Commissioner of Northern Borneo. Shortly after departure the aircraft was diverted to investigate a report of shipwrecked fishermen stranded on an atoll 280 miles north of Labuan. At 07.10hrs Fit Lt Boutell reported he had located survivors and had directed a junk to their assistance. At 11.43hrs a further report from him said the rescue operation was going smoothly and that in 15 minutes he would return to his original task. After a brief position report at 11.59hrs nothing further was heard from VP254.
8 August 1953: Mk 3 No 1718 of No 35 Squadron South African Air Force. Thirteen killed, no survivors. This aircraft was taking part in a joint British/South African CAPEX exercise and was in transit between Capetown and Port Elizabeth when it struck high ground in the Steynskloof mountains near Worcester. Although the cause was never positively established weather conditions in the area at the time included winds gusting to 80kt and icing conditions down to 3,000ft. The speculation was that the aircraft may have been blown off course-it was taking a 'short cut' at the time to keep up with the exercise - and also encountered severe icing problems. It took several days for ground rescuers to reach the scene and establish that there had been no survivors.
8 December 1965: Mk 3 XF704 of No 201 Squadron. Eight killed, three survivors. During a transit flight between Gan, the RAF staging post in the Indian Ocean, and Changi, Singapore, this aircraft's No 4 engine caught fire following overspeeding. The fire spread to the starboard wing, which folded. Nevertheless the captain and co-pilot (both of whom were among the dead) appeared to be able to keep the aircraft almost level until final impact with the result that two signallers and a passenger survived and were rescued 11 hours later by HMS Ajax.
21 December 1967: Mk 3 XF702 of No 206 Squadron. Eleven killed, no survivors. The aircraft, flying on a routine training mission, hit the ground at Creag Bhan, Lochailort, Inverness-shire in extreme weather conditions. Turbulence and icing were advanced as possible causes.
19 April 1968: Mk 2 WB833 (a former Mk 2 prototype) of No 210 Squadron. Eleven killed, no survivors. This Ballykelly-based aircraft was exercising with HM Submarine Onyx in the Clyde Estuary and hit 400ft high ground on the Mull of Kintyre. A small navigational error putting the aircraft over land instead of sea was recorded as the likely cause.
19 November 1967: Mk 3 WR976 of No 201 Squadron. Nine killed, two survivors. This aircraft, based at Kinloss but detached to St Mawgan, was taking part in an anti-submarine exercise 200 miles off the Cornish coast and was seen to hit the sea in a descending turn while carrying out a mock attack. No specific reason was recorded.
