ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 24832
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| Date: | Thursday 29 April 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Avro Anson Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 9 OAFU RAF |
| Registration: | EF823 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Pencreigiau'r Llan near Pant Glas, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandrwog |
Location: Pencreigiau’r Llan
Aircraft: Avro Anson I EF823.
Squadron: 9 AFU.
From: RAF Llandwrog.
Mission: Training.
Details:
RAF Llandwrog’s military career began in July 1941 with the formation of No 9 Air Gunners School. Shortly before it disbanded in June 1942, the separate No 9 Air Observers School (AOS) was renamed as No 9 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU). The AOS had as its parent airfield Penrhos, a Flight being positioned at its satellite. Llandwrog continued in this capacity for the new resident until the AFU ceased on 14 June 1945. In earlier stages of its stay this unit employed a mixture of aircraft types, such as Bristol Blenheims and Westland Lysanders, before concentrating upon Avro Ansons.
EF823 was flying by night on a cross country navigation exercise in poor weather conditions and become totally lost when it aircraft hit the slope of Mt Pencreigiau'r Llan, near Pant Glas. Miraculously, all five crew members only suffered varying degrees of injuries while the aircraft was destroyed. Come the following morning they could see just how lucky they were, but they hit high ground in one of the most desolate areas of Wales. There lay the only single-track road for miles and that was over three miles away to the Southwest. A large wood on a steep valley was off to the east then wide-open undulating mountains for over ten miles. To the south, more hills, and the north, five miles of mountains.
The accident was caused by a navigation error on part of the crew who was following a wrong track.
Crew:
F/Sgt Barry C Fleming RAF. Training staff/pilot. Safe.
Sgt Joe O’Hagan RAF. W/Op/Training staff. Safe.
Sgt F. P. J. Bolger RCAF. Obs/Training staff. Safe.
Lac Wally Clare RAFVR. Nav U/T. Safe.
Lac Jim Davies RAFVR. Nav U/T. Safe.
Wreckage:
Considering just how far this site is, there is very little remains.
There is the high probability, this site was one chosen by the RAF post war, to train the wreck recovery crews at RAF St Athan on wreckage recovery. Which utilised helicopters to lift the remains away. When the ‘Vintage Collection’ was still in existence during the 90’s, within their main hanger, you could see artifacts from crash sites hanging on the hanger walls. One such relic was the tail from Wellington MF509, I personally saw this the year before up at the crash site. When I re-visited the site, the fin was indeed gone!
Additional Information.
Aside from being the site of pioneering RAF mountain rescue efforts, post-war between July 1946 and October 1956 Llandwrog became a key part of Operations Dismal and Sandcastle. Storing and disposing of many thousands of tons of captured German bombs was a significant job in itself but these weapons contained the lethal nerve agent Tabun, and problems in dealing with them eventually necessitated the bombs being dumped in the Atlantic Ocean.
RAF Llandrwog is now the home of the Aviation Museum with the buildings nearby used for the North Wales Air Ambulance and the new HMCG Helicopters.
Sources:
Anson production list
www.rafcommands.com
www.baaa-acro.com
www.rafweb.org
www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales
https://abct.org.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 03-Feb-2020 11:50 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator, Source, Operator] |
| 05-May-2023 21:42 | Nepa | Updated [[Operator, Source, Operator]] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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