AeroVenture Home of South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum

The ditching of Nimrod R1 XW666 must surely be one of the most interesting of recent (near) air disasters. Following an engine fire the aircraft was ditched into the sea by her crew and this prevented mid-air break-up. The crew survived. The loss of XW666 was discussed in parliament.

18/05/02 XW666 Fitting Display

XW666 is now on display at AeroVenture in Doncaster in a fitting seabed scene. Her owner, Phil Jarvis has decided to keep her in the current condition as any further restoration will spoil the unique history of this aircraft.

XW666 in flight at Wyton on 24th July 1992, thanks to Joop de Groot for use of this photo

XW666 does have a tenuous link with AeroVenture as it was due to be operated by 51 Squadron at Waddington. In 1938 616 Squadron was formed at Doncaster with a nucleous of officers from 51 Squadron.

XW666 Crew Awarded for Bravery

In the wake of the dramatic events of 16th May 1995, when Nimrod R1, XW666 ditched in the Moray Firth following a catastrophic engine fire, several members of the crew are to receive awards for bravery.

Flt Lt Art Stacey, the captain, is to receive the Air Force Cross, Flt Sgt Steve Hart the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in the Air and Flt Lt Pat Hewitt, MAEOp Stu Clay and Flt Sgt Dave Rimmer are all to receive AOC in C's Commendations.

From a newspaper clipping at the time, sorry I do not have the newspaper name, please let me know if you know the details or would like this removing.

XW666 Pilot Visits Aeroventure

On 17th July 2010 Pat Hewitt and wife Ann visited Aeroventure to see XW666. Pat was copilot of the aircraft in May 1995 and was praised for his expert flying which resulted in the safe ditching of the aircraft.

When the aircraft was recovered and examined metalogical experts reported that the fire damage was within 45 seconds of causing total structual failure of the wing.

Ann heard the news of a Nimrod crash on the radio while driving and realised it was Pat's aircraft but didn't receive news that he was safe until later in the day.

Pat and Ann in front of Sea King XV677, it was a search and rescue version of the Sea King that picked up Pat and his crew

The problem was traced back to a short in the old wiring in the wing. The purpose of the flight was to test the refurbished aircraft and one of the tests was the de-icing system in the wing. A wiring short caused high pressure air from one engine to be forced into the other - a feature used to start one engine from the other. A safety feature in the the starter motor should have caused a bolt to shear as the engine start required low-pressure air. The bolt failed to shear and this caused the starter motor turbine to overspeed and fail with a turbine blade damaging the adjacent fuel tank which started the fire.

Pat told me that despite the problem everything was in place for the crew to survive because:-

Only seven crew were onboard instead of the normal crew of 29.
There were three life-rafts onboard, one in each wing and one in the fuselage. One was lost during the fire, one was lost during the crash however the third one in the fuselage was ok for the crew to use.
The weather was good.
Two Sea King helicopters were nearby on training flights.
They were just minutes from their base.

In addition to the Nimrod, Pat also flew Vulcan's and Varsity's - all types represented at the museum. One of the Vulcan's in Pat's logbook is XM607 which later became famous in the 'Black Buck' missions to the Falklands. Pat was also the unit test pilot at Church Fenton on Mark 3 and 5 Jet Provosts.

Nimrod - the Falklands Link

Nimrod's operated from Ascension Island and covered the British Shipping. Many were upgraded by fitting ex-Vulcan refueling probes after which refuelled flights of up to 19 hours and 12,000km were recorded.

XW666 was one of three Nimrod R.1's built and sister aircraft, XW664 took part in the Falklands War. XW664 took part in Operation Corporate after being fitted with a refuelling probe. We understand that XW664 did not operate from Ascension Island leaving us to assume she operated from Southern Chile (R.1 operations are kept secret).

Nimrod in Flight

Click the play button to see a video of a Nimrod in flight

If you can contribute more to the story of XW666 please contact the webmaster jim @ aeroventure.org.uk

Unless other credit given photographs on this site are copyright Jim Keable 2002-2010