Date:	Monday 30 July 1951
Time:	afternoon
Type:	Avro Anson T Mk 21
Owner/operator:	2 BANS RAF
Registration:	VV954
MSN:	276922
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Usworth, near Sunderland, Co Durham, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Usworth, Sunderland (EGNU)
Destination airport:	RAF Usworth, Sunderland (EGNU)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro Anson T.21 VV954/"NU" 2 BANS (Basic Air Navigation School), RAF: Written off (Seriously damaged) 30/7/1951 when flew into the ground whilst on a single engined overshoot at RAF Usworth, near Sunderland, County Durham. An account of this accident was included on the website of the NEAM (North East Air Museum) which occupies part of the former RAF Usworth site:

"There was one Anson crash, however, on 30 July 1951, but even that wasn't the fault of the aircraft. At the end of one of the training flights, a pilot decided to do a one-engine approach, overshot, lost critical flying speed and staggered along runway 23 at about 200 feet, tried to turn, spun in and went in near vertically into a field beyond the eastern boundary of the airfield (there were few houses there then - fortunately).

It didn't seem possible that anyone could possibly have survived. A wing-tip had caught the ground first and the Anson cartwheeled over, absorbing a lot of the impact, there was no fire because the tanks were pretty empty. Miraculously the 3 students walked away from the wreckage with only bruises, the pilot and navigating instructor suffered broken limbs and eventually recovered".

Probable cause: The accident was caused by a lack of coordination and a poor management of the flight on part of the flying crew who failed to monitor properly the approach speed and failed to consider all aspects of a go-around maneuver combined with a single engine approach's exercise.

The incident was reported at the time as front-page news in the local newspaper ("Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette", Monday 30 July 1951):

"AIRCRAFT CRASHES AT USWORTH: FOUR HURT
Four airman were hurt, two of them seriously, when a twin-engine RAF Anson aircraft on a training flight, crashed in a field just outside the perimeter of Usworth Aerodrome this afternoon.

The aircraft was about to land, when it suddenly nose-dived into a field where beans were growing. The fuselage of the plane was smashed, and the engines were ripped from the wings.

The pilot of the aircraft was James Gembles (30) of Newcastle Road, Sunderland, who is now lying in Monkwearmouth Hospital, with injuries to his face and body. His signaller, a married man, is 26-years-old W. Harris, of Margate, Kent, who is suffering from a compound fracture of the right ankle, and head injuries

PUPILS ESCAPE
The other two occupants, navigator pupils, escaped with only slight injuries. They were treated at Usworth. Mr Gembles has been living in Eden House. Newcastle Road, for the past three months with his wife and two children, boys aged six and nine. He recently returned this country after tour of duty in Singapore. Pending notification to the Air Ministry, the Officer Commanding Usworth. Squadron Leader P. Ruskell, D.F.C., refused to comment on the accident".

Aircraft struck off charge as Cat.5 (G/I) 28/8/1951 and allocated for ground instructional use at RAF Usworth as 6880M. Re-Cat.5(scrap) 21/5/1953 and authorised to be reduced to Spares and Produce

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.116 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.163
4. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Brtiain, 1988 p152
5. Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, Monday 30 July 1951
6. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Monday 30 July 1951
7. http://www.neam.co.uk/usworth.html
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-t21-raf-usworth
9. https://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/Losses/Losses-PostWWII.htm
10. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
16-Apr-2012 23:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
18-Mar-2017 18:07	Michael JB	Updated [Total occupants, Phase, Narrative]
27-Dec-2018 22:18	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
04-Feb-2021 18:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]
04-Feb-2021 19:57	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Operator]
05-Feb-2021 16:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
05-Feb-2021 16:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
07-Feb-2021 17:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]