Date:	Tuesday 8 April 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Avro Anson T Mk 21
Owner/operator:	2 ANS RAF
Registration:	WD411
MSN:	3632
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Little Cawthorpe, 2.5 miles SW of Manby, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro Anson T.21 WD411/"C" 2 ANS (Air Navigation School), RAF: Delivered 28/12/1950. Written off 8/4/1952. The flight was authorised to check the accuracy of the pilots notes for this particular aircraft. During the take off run from RAF Manby, Lincolnshire, the starboard engine was feathered, and, at 400 feet altitude, and an indicated airspeed of 85 knots, the pilot found that he could not maintain altitude and direction.

Faced with rising ground straight ahead, the pilot decided to make a forced landing and Anson WD411 bellylanded near Little Cawthorpe, 2.5 miles South West of Manby, Lincolnshire. Both crew on board survived with injuries

Crew of Anson WD411
Squadron Leader (114000) Ralph Edward "Titch" Havercroft, AFC RAF (pilot) - survived injured
Flight Lieutenant G F Turner, RAF (Co-pilot) - survived injured

The pilot, Ralph Edward Havercroft, known as "Titch" because he was only 5 ft 2 in tall, served with 92 Squadron, RAF in the Battle of Britain. He is believed that he was the shortest person ever to fly a Spitfire into battle. He flew 200 sorties during the battle and helped shoot down a Junkers 88 on August 13th 1940. He was Officer Commanding, Handling Squadron, RAF Manby, from 1951 to September 1952, during the time of the above incident. He survived the crash of Anson WD411 as per the above, and had been awarded the AFC (Air Force Cross) (gazetted 1st January 1949). He retired on 4th June 1963 as a Wing Commander. He then worked for Hunting Engineering until 1981 and died in May 1995 at Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England

The reported crash site of Little Cawthorpe is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west from Legbourne, and 3 miles (5 km) south-east from the market town of Louth.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.125 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 235
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1983)
4. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 p.150)
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WD
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-t21-raf-mandy
7. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1952
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?22899-114000-Wg-Cdr-Ralph-Edward-Tich-HAVERCROFT
9. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Havercroft.htm
10. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~havercrofts/genealogy/Ind/F504.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Cawthorpe

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jun-2008 15:26	JINX	Added
03-Mar-2012 16:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Jan-2016 18:50	JIXN	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
02-Mar-2021 19:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total occupants, Source, Narrative]
02-Mar-2021 21:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
04-Mar-2021 14:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
05-Mar-2021 19:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]