Missing 2 Registration O-BLAN Crew count 2 | Aircraft type Farman F.60 Goliath Operator SNETA | |
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Site English Channel off the coast of France Destination Brussels-Evere Airport, Belgium Flight origins Croydon Airport, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | ||
The 1921 SNETA Farman Goliath ditching occurred on 21 August 1921 when a Farman F.60 Goliath of Syndicat National d'Etude du Transport Aérienne ditched in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium. The aircraft was operating a mail flight from Croydon Airport, United Kingdom to Brussels-Evere Airport, Belgium. The aircraft was later salvaged, repaired and returned to service.
Contents
Aircraft
The accident aircraft was Farman F.60 Goliath O-BLAN, msn 7248/17.
Ditching
The aircraft, operated by Syndicat National d'Etude du Transport Aérienne (SNETA), was operating a mail flight from Croydon Airport, United Kingdom to Brussels-Evere Airport, Belgium. It had departed from Croydn at 12:25. One witness, a gendarme, reported hearing "an explosion" at 13:32 and seeing the structural collapse of the aircraft before it came down in the English Channel 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) off Calais, France. The accident was reported by the Gendarme by telegraph to Calais. The report was passed on to the Gendarmerie at Boulogne and Gravelines. Various fishing boats, yachts and submarines were dispatched to search for the aircraft. The wreckage was located 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) off the coast. The accident was also witnessed by Herbert Sullivan, on board the yacht Zola. He sent a radiogram reporting the accident. A bag of mail was recovered by Sullivan, it was subsequently forwarded to authorities in Brussels. The South Eastern and Chatham Railway ship Maid of Orleans received the radiogram and relayed it to the General Post Office in London. The wreckage of the aircraft was later reported by the steamship Tregenna to be off the coast of Belgium (51°03′N 2°03′E). Both crew, pilot and mechanic, were reported as missing. The accident was the first involving the Farman Goliath in civil service. The aircraft was subsequently recovered and repaired, returning to service in 1923.