/ Air Historical Branch (RAF)
BentleyPrioryBuilding
RAF Northolt
West End Road
Ruislip
HA4 6NG
United Kingdom
E-mail: /
Ref. D/AHB(RAF)5/21
/ 15 April 2014

Dear Mr Higgins

Your e-mail concerning His Royal Highness the late Duke of Kent has been forwarded to this Branch for response. You have made a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and wish to know:

“what information is held by the RAF concerning the death in 1942 of Prince George, Duke of Kent. In particular was there a RAF crash investigation and what were the results?”

Your request has been handled under the FOIA procedures and our responses are as follows:

  1. The Ministry of Defence holds the Casualty File relating to the RAF personnel aboard Sunderland W4206. This does not contain information about the accident other than the fact the aircraft flew into the side of a hill and no technical fault was found. The Casualty File deals with the aftermath, informing next of kin, burial arrangements etc.
  2. I can confirm that a Court of Inquiry was held into the accident but search of the Ministry of Defence central archives has been conducted and no trace of the Proceedings of this Court of Inquiry have been found.
  3. The Ministry of Defence holds the RAF Aircraft Accident Card (Form 1180). The information on this document is withheld under Section 21 of FOIA (already accessible in the public domain) as a copy of the Aircraft Accident Card is available to you from the RAFMuseum. This Card gives the findings of the Inquiry. The address to contact to obtain a copy is:

The RoyalAirForceMuseum

Grahame Park Way

Hendon

LONDON

NW9 5LL

Tel: 020 8205 2266

Yours sincerely

Air Historical Branch

If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, 1st Floor, MODMainBuilding, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail ). Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website,