Avro Anson Crash photos

Direct from the K Files (Air B)

K6250 – delivered 5.1.37 to School of Air Nav coded J6
To 48 Sqn,
Avro 3.5.38
S of AN – 10.5.38
No 2 S of AN as J6
4 Air Obs School – 28.4.42 as A4?
Martin Hearn – 21-6-42
9 MU – 31.8.42
ATA – 17.9.42
15 Ferry Pool – overshot landing, swung and undercarriage collapsed, Portsmouth 20.10.43
To Air Taxis for repair
ATA – 27.1.44
5 MU – 18.4.46 on flight charge
Sold as Scrap – 25.5.50

My own thoughts on N5250 is that it may well have had a similar accident to K 6250 and was also repaired and returned to flying. We just don’t have that evidence at present!

Did this ever get resolved? I’m pretty sure it’s N5254 of No.6 AOS based at Staverton. It crashed on 10 March 1943 at Heddington, Wilts on a cross-country flight. Engine problems had developed above cloud and when the crew descended they had insufficient power to clear a hill top, and instead performed a wheels-up forced landing. I think the accident site was at Wick Farm, but that may be my memory playing tricks.

For sure the surroundings look like Heddington.

Can someone look up Anson K6250 Please?

Direct from the K Files (Air B)

K6250 – delivered 5.1.37 to School of Air Nav coded J6
To 48 Sqn,
Avro 3.5.38
S of AN – 10.5.38
No 2 S of AN as J6
4 Air Obs School – 28.4.42 as A4?
Martin Hearn – 21-6-42
9 MU – 31.8.42
ATA – 17.9.42
15 Ferry Pool – overshot landing, swung and undercarriage collapsed, Portsmouth 20.10.43
To Air Taxis for repair
ATA – 27.1.44
5 MU – 18.4.46 on flight charge
Sold as Scrap – 25.5.50

My own thoughts on N5250 is that it may well have had a similar accident to K 6250 and was also repaired and returned to flying. We just don’t have that evidence at present!

Can someone look up Anson K6250 Please?

Andrew – your photos have convinced me that mine were taken at Filton. I can imagine you with your magnifying glass going over photos like Sherlock Holmes looking for clues 🙂 :). Thank you for taking the time to do his and posting the photos.

I’ll be searching on line where I can purchase your book as my Mum lived on Callicroft Road where she met my Dad when he was at Filton with the 501. I was born in Patchway way back in 1941 so my connection to the area is strong.

Again, many thanks everyone,
Gary

As far as I can tell, they were delivered in numbers to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, Australia etc.
Because of lack of Cheetah engines and U-Boats, Canada developed their own with Jacobs engines as well as modifying the Mk I’s.

Correction: British Commonwealth Air Training Plan ( BCATP)

I’ve attached three photos that hopefully show that the Anson photos were taken at Filton. The first photo shows the first production Bombay at Filton in 1939. Although it is taken from a point further east, looking north, the buildings are the same. The second is much earlier, looking south west, and shows a Bristol Fighter with a very similar background. The third is a comparison of trees to the north of the airfield. The wing is from the sole Blenheim Mk.II, L1222, in September 1938. The full photo is in my book, Filton Airfield Through Time (unashamed plug).

Ansons were used by No.2 ERFTS at Filton in the late 1930s, and the Ansons of No.2 AONS at Yatesbury would have been frequent visitors. I have a list of accidents at Filton, but it is far from complete and doesn’t have any Ansons.

Andrew

Again – thanks everyone for your time and input.

As the photo was on the same album page as other photos taken between 1938 and 1940 when Dad was posted at Filton I am thinking that it was taken there.

Andrew, thanks for the offer of a current day photo that might provide a match to mine – I look forward to seeing it.

Does anyone have a suggestion where I might find a report of the accident?

Thanks everyone, Gary

In the photos I posted – one has a number of buildings in the background while the other has wise open country side with no buildings. Does anything look familiar to anyone I wonder?

Gary

From the limited amount of identifiable background, it certainly look likes Filton to me. If I get a chance later, I will see if I can find some contemporary photos with the same view.

Ansons were based at Filton around 1938 and 1939.

Andrew

AVRO ANSON CRASH PHOTO

Ansons were certainly shipped to Canada in 1941, some came from the many hundreds of RAF and RN machines that were repaired and rebuilt at Western Airways at Weston Airport from 1940 on.

One Anson, recorded as K8750, left the shops in early ’41 bound for Canada but sadly was lost on March 24 when the SS Horda was sunk in the Atlantic by U-97.

From the accident all I can offer is both engines were not running at impact as the props are intact – fuel starvation ?

There was only one. N5250 is a British-built Anson, from the sixth production batch, ordered in 1938. Along with at least six others, and at least one British-built Lysander, it formed the initial equipment of No. 31 OTU which was formed in England on 25 April 1941 to train four-man crews for Coastal and Ferry Commands. The OTU arrived at Debert in Nova Scotia on 23 May, whereupon it was known as No.31 (RAF) OTU, presumably so there was no confusion as to who was running it.

We might wonder at the wisdom of sending aircraft all the way across tha Atlantic when there were apparently more than a few in Canada already, but the reality is likely that all the local aircraft were already allocated, probably with a considerable ‘waiting list’. The records I have don’t show how 31 OTU got to Canada, but if it was by sea they would have been taking advantage of otherwise empty vessels which had convoyed supplies from West to East, so it’s not as crazy as it might at first appear. However they got there, clearly they weren’t daft enough to send them back to England for servicing. That’s why there’s a record of a Canadian organisation ‘taking them on strength’ – not only would this unit have checked them over after the trans-Atlantic flight or voyage, but it would likely have been the ‘parent’ for any major repairs, etc.

My records don’t show any fates for the Ansons, but the Hudsons that replaced them were pranged on an alarmingly regular basis, so likely they were too.

As for the photos, I think the underwing colours, with the big underwing serials, and the lack of fin flash or rudder stripes suggest it’s in Canada. While in Canada, 31 (RAF) OTU wore the unit codes LR. I can make myelf believe I can see those codes behind the roundel in the first picture, but that may be wishful thinking.

Thanks for the quick and informative responses. Does the following help with “fitting” the information into a place and time??

My Dad was posted to Filton between Mar 39 to Jul 39 and again Aug 39 to Sep 40. He was sent to Canada in April 1942 where he served with the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in OTU 34 until April 1944 at Pennfield Ridge NB and Yarmouth NS.

Both Derbert and New Glasgow are at the opposite end of NS to Yarmouth so him having a photo of a crash there is very unlikely.

In the photos I posted – one has a number of buildings in the background while the other has wise open country side with no buildings. Does anything look familiar to anyone I wonder?

Gary

As far as I can tell, they were delivered in numbers to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, Australia etc.
Because of lack of Cheetah engines and U-Boats, Canada developed their own with Jacobs engines as well as modifying the Mk I’s.

That’s what I couldn’t figure out.

The UK serial was delivered quite early on, and other crashed Ansons of the same batch look the same (even down to roundel configuration). I couldn’t find a history for that aircraft…. I Think this is the aircraft, and the photo is likely to be in the UK, up to 1942 based on other crashed Ansons.

The Canadian site claims that an Anson with the same serial crashed in Canada….. Would a Mk1 Anson have been exported in 1941? Why – there was a factory producing them over there!

Experts!!!!!!!!! help!!!

EDIT: overall conclusion from here (with input from wokka and others below) : Anson N5250, likely to be New Glasgow, NS, 12 March 1942.

The UK serial N5250 is from a much earlier batch than the Canadian N5250….. work is ongoing…..
UK serials from here: http://britishaviation-ptp.com/avro652_2.html

From Air Britain RAF Aircraft L1000-N9999;

N5250 –Avro Anson MkI delivered between Oct 1938 – Sep 39

6 ERFTS (Elementary & Reserve Flying Training School)
8 CANS (Civil Air Navigation School)
8 AONS (Air Observers Navigation School)
9 AONS
2 SGR (School of General Reconnaissance)

To RCAF 27-4-41 to tie up with Post#2

So not your aircraft me thinks:)

By inverting the colours in photoshop, all I can see is W5250….. which makes it a Botha…. evidently wrong!

If it’s N5250, it’s an anson. Could be a line of enquiry…

N5250
Avro
Anson
Mk. I
652A

first date: 23 May 1941 – Taken on strength by de Havilland Canada at Toronto

To Eastern Air Command on 16 June 1941, for use by No. 31 Operational Training Unit at Derbert, NS. Category B crash at New Glasgow, NS aerodrome at 16:30 on 12 March 1942. To Canada Car & Foundry for repairs 19 March to 13 June 1942, had 445:15 time logged when it arrived. To No. 3 Training Command when completed. To CC & F again for overhaul, 28 June 1943, with 1183:30 time logged. To No. 1 Training Command on 28 June 1943, for use by No. 1 Air Observers School at Malton, Ontario. To No. 6 Repair Depot on 12 May 1944 for overhaul, but scrapped instead.

last date: 21 July 1944. – struck off, reduced to spares and produce

from http://www.ody.ca/~bwalker/RCAF_N5042_N5352.html

The UK serial N5250 is from a much earlier batch than the Canadian N5250….. work is ongoing…..
UK serials from here: http://britishaviation-ptp.com/avro652_2.html