Sutton Wick air crash The Sutton Wick air crash occurred on 5 March 1957 when a Blackburn Beverley C Mk 1 heavy transport aircraft , serial number " XH117 " , of 53 Squadron Royal Air Force crashed in the village of Sutton Wick , Drayton , Berkshire , England , following shut - down of one engine and partial loss of power on another . After take - off , No . 1 engine was shut down as a precautionary measure and whilst on final approach back to RAF Abingdon , No . 2 engine failed to respond to throttle inputs . The aeroplane struck cables and trees 18 minutes after lifting off . Of the seventeen passengers and five crew on board , all but four died in the accident . Two people on the ground were also killed . An investigation found that a non - return valve in the fuel system had been installed backwards , causing two of the engines to be starved of fuel . The technician found responsible for fitting the valve was charged under the Air Force Act . Following the accident , the non - return valve was re - designed so it could not be installed incorrectly . Two RAF Officers who participated in the rescue efforts following the crash were highly praised for " refusing to give up while there was hope of finding survivors among the wreckage . " Flight history . The Secretary of State for Air , George Ward , described the crash to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom . The Beverley departed RAF Abingdon in Abingdon , Oxfordshire bound for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus . The aeroplane was carrying freight , a relief crew and eight RAF policemen with their dogs . There was low overcast at , visibility was less than , and there was an easterly wind of . As the aircraft was climbing , No . 1 engine ( on the port wing ) developed a fuel leak . The flight crew responded by shutting down the engine and feathering its propeller . The flight crew declared an emergency and requested a blind approach to RAF Abingdon . The controller alerted emergency services on the ground . A short time later , cockpit instruments alerted the flight crew to a large loss of fuel from No . 2 fuel tank , the second of four such tanks in the port wing . In an effort to stop the leak , the crew de - activated the fuel cocks and boosters for the No . 2 tank , but left them on for the No . 1 tank . As the Beverley turned on to final approach for RAF Abingdon the crew attempted to increase power from the remaining three Bristol Centaurus engines but No . 2 engine — also on the port wing — failed to respond and the aeroplane began to lose speed and height . Knowing he could not reach the airfield , the captain tried to land in an open field . However , the aircraft became uncontrollable and struck a number of high tension cables and some trees which tore the port wing from the fuselage . Upon impact with the ground , the aircraft destroyed a caravan and a prefabricated house before somersaulting and crashing upside down . The aircraft crashed at 11 : 00 am , 18 minutes after take - off , near the village of Sutton Wick , south of Abingdon . The aircraft was carrying a large amount of fuel for the flight to Cyprus and instantly caught fire . The tail section of the aircraft crashed on a farm house near the main wreckage , trapping a woman in the kitchen of the building . She was later freed by emergency workers . A newspaper reported : " Wreckage was scattered over three quarters of a mile . The force of the explosion sent the main part of the giant plane ' s fuselage and tailplane tearing back over the field into the farmyard , carrying with it an inferno of blazing petrol and debris . " Emergency workers worked for several hours to free survivors and bodies from the charred fuselage . Ultimately , two civilians in a prefabricated building on the ground , three crew , 15 passengers , and a number of RAF Police dogs were killed in the initial impact and the post - crash fire . However , two of the crew and two passengers survived . One RAF Police dog was also found alive in the wreckage . Investigation . A Board of Inquiry investigated the crash and found it was caused by loss of power from No . 1 and No . 2 engines , both mounted on the port wing of the aircraft . George Ward told the House of Commons that " the four fuel tanks on the port side of the Beverley feed into a collector box from which the two port engines are fed . From the available evidence , including inspections of part of the aircraft ' s fuel system , it is clear that a non - return valve between No . 1 ( port ) tank and the collector box had been fitted in reverse and that the fuel supply from Nos . 3 and 4 ( port ) tanks were switched off throughout the flight . " Ward continued , saying that the loss of power from No . 1 was caused by it being shut down as a precautionary measure , and the fuel starvation to No . 2 engine was caused by an incorrectly fitted non - return valve in the supply line from No . 1 fuel tank . No . 2 fuel tank had been isolated and two smaller fuel tanks in the port wing had not been selected during the flight . The tradesman who had fitted the valve , and his supervisor , were prosecuted and charged , and the technician was court - martialled for negligence and punished with a reprimand . The Board also noted that some fuel was available from two smaller tanks but they were not used during the flight , and that the captain " must bear some responsibility " for not using those tanks . Ward said , however , that " owing to the nature of the flight the amount of fuel in the two smaller tanks was not large , and it can only be assumed that the captain had no reason to believe that both port engines would not operate satisfactorily off the two main port tanks individually . " The captain lost his life in the accident and no charges were brought against him or any of the flight crew . Aftermath . As a consequence of the disaster at Sutton Wick , the non - return valve was re - designed so such an error would be impossible . Aviation author Graham Perry wrote that , following the crash , " airworthiness design standards were changed so that the threads at either end of all such valves manufactured since are now made totally different from each other . Items like a non - return valve simply cannot now be assembled in the wrong sense . " Nevertheless , Perry wrote , " [ one ] would be amazed how many people have still tried to do so in the forty - seven years since , most realising their mistake after looking in the manual and quietly and ruefully thanking those who had gone before them and made it impossible . " Reverend Stanley Harrison , the station padre at RAF Abingdon , was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( OBE ) and Flying Officer Charles Evans , the medical officer , a Member of the Order of the British Empire ( MBE ) for efforts in the rescue of the crew . An hour and a half after the crash they rescued an RAF Police dog , still alive . They continued their rescue efforts for three hours and removed fourteen bodies from the wreckage . The RAF praised the two men for displaying " courage and resourcefulness of a high order , refusing to give up while there was hope of finding survivors among the wreckage . " An RAF document stated : " At one stage a Calor gas cylinder bottle exploded near these officers and the fire thereupon ’ began to gain ground . Undeterred by this , they continued their search of the wreckage until it was clear that there could be no survivors . " Also singled out for attention by the Board of Inquiry was Mrs Smith of Abingdon . The efforts of the Berkshire Constabulary were praised by investigators .