The Winter Hill air disaster occurred on 27 February 1958 when the Silver City Airways Bristol 170 Freighter G-AICS, travelling from the Isle of Man to Manchester, England, crashed into Winter Hill (also known as Rivington Moor) several hundred yards away from the Independent Television Authority's Winter Hill transmitting station.
Thirty-five people died and seven were injured. The weather that night (note: the ICAO report states that the accident occurred at 09.15 in the morning) was so severe that none of the engineers working in the ITA transmitting station were aware of the crash. Several feet of snow hampered rescue efforts, and a snow cat vehicle had to be diverted from the A6 to cut a path for emergency vehicles though the track had been cleared by people using spades by the time it arrived.
Read more about Winter Hill Air Disaster: Background, Crash
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