Date:	Thursday 6 January 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Avro Anson Mk I
Owner/operator:	14 RFS RAF
Registration:	MG564
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near RAF Hamble, Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Hamble, Hampshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hamble, Hampshire

Narrative:
Avro Anson Mk. I MG564, 14 RFS (Reserve Flying School) RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 6-1-1949 when flew into high ground near RAF Hamble, Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire

The aircraft was descending through cloud at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour cross-country navigation sortie to and from RAF Hamble, when it suffered a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) flying into high ground at 650 feet AMSL. The Avro Anson broke up and caught fire on impact. Although there were no fatalities, all five crew sustained injuries.

The Subsequent Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the accident to pilot error; the pilot had let down through cloud, believing the aircraft was over the sea (presumably the Solent Estuary). The crew co-operation was reported to be 'poor', and the pilot had authorised the flight himself.

The navigator had failed to keep a check on winds for 'dead reckoning' purposes, and used incorrect wind velocity in his calculations, leading to both the pilot and navigator being incorrect in their assumptions as to the position and altitude of their aircraft. The crew also did not make use of the radio aids available, and the whole incident was compounded by an incorrect meteorological report, which gave the cloud base at 1,000 feet, when it was actually 400 feet.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.450-451
3. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988)
4. https://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamble-le-Rice#Aerospace

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Apr-2023 20:59	Dr. John Smith	Added