Hi All
This aircraft was a Canberra, a twin-jet bomber produced by British company English Electric. It belonged to the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE), which had taken delivery of six of the type about 1954, and was on its way from Ecuador to the English Electric (by then part by BAC) plant at Warton in Lancashire for servicing and upgrading when it crash landed in Ireland on 30 Aug 1962. Its planned route was Quito (Ecuador)-Panama City-Washington-Gander-Shannon-Warton.
They had compass trouble, the weather was bad and they lost radio contact with Shannon, so after circling for an hour or two (to burn up or dump fuel) they crash landed in a field at Dunmore near Tuam. There was a crew of three – pilot/commander Colonel Francisco Escobar, a flight engineer and a navigator. They were uninjured in the landing.
I saw the plane the day after it landed. As far as I remember, it was a wheels-up landing in a ploughed field and there little visible damage. The cockpit was covered by a tarpaulin so you couldn't see anything inside, but it was possible to wander around it freely. There was a crewman present to watch over it, who was friendly, but had no English. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera. I've never seen a photo of the aircraft, but there may have been some in the newspapers of the time.
If I remember correctly, the plane was accompanied by a second Canberra which continued on to land safely in Northern Ireland. The plane was dismantled and taken to England for repairs - apparently it flew again and returned to service.
At least one of the Ecuadorian Air Force Canberras was preserved on display in Quito at least as late as 2011:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Ecuador-Air-Force/English-Electric-Canberra-B6/2055898The Canberra was a very successful design and over 1000 were built. In a service life of over 50 years, Canberras were flown by the RAF up to 2006. Several examples are still flying today, many in private hands:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IS35H8a10Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7gK7QOeN0Hard to believe it's 55 years ago this year!
regards
Gerry