On 15 January 1953, a twin-engined Vickers Valetta transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF), serial number VX562, collided over the Mediterranean Sea with a four-engined RAF Avro Lancaster maritime patrol aircraft.

[1] The Valetta had departed RAF Luqa with 16 passengers (15 airmen and one Royal Navy (RN) sailor) on a return flight to the United Kingdom.

Later the destroyer HMS Chieftain was dispatched to search east of Pantelleria after a note case belonging to one of the Lancaster crew was found, without success.

[2] The only body recovered was that of Sgt Victor Ronald Chandler RAF (age 32) who was buried in Imtarfa Military Cemetery in Malta.

[3] The court of inquiry decided that the weather conditions at the time were a factor with localized thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail and no blame could be attached to any individual.