Date:	Monday 9 February 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Avro Anson C Mk 19
Owner/operator:	Metropolitan CS RAF
Registration:	TX168
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Burnt Oak, Edgware, near RAF Hendon, Middlesex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hendon, Colindale, Middlesex
Destination airport:	RAF Hendon, Colindale, Middlesex

Narrative:
Avro Anson C. XIX TX168, Metropolitan Communications Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when crashed 9 February 1948. The Anson was involved in a crew training sortie, as part of this, the aircraft made an asymmetric (single engine) approach to RAF Hendon, Colindale, Middlesex on the starboard engine only.

By the mid-1940s, RAF Hendon was surrounded by housing developments on three sides, and there was a raised railway embankment on the fourth side.

At 300 feet into the final approach, the pilot decided to overshoot the approach to RAF Hendon, as a Percival Proctor aircraft was occupying the runway that was in use.

An attempt was made to restart (unfeather) the port engine, but the aircraft continued to lose altitude, and the Anson crashed into buildings at Burnt Oak, Edgeware, and a passing trolleybus, approximately 1,300 yards short of RAF Hendon. Both of the crew of the Anson were killed, and eight passengers on the trolleybus were severely injured

Crew of Anson RX168:
Wing Commander (33013) Theodore Urquhart Rolfe RAF, (pilot, aged 34) - killed
Flight Lieutenant (55123) William Johnstone McMeekan, RAF (aged 28)- killed

Probable cause: It appears that the crew completed the final approach with an engine voluntarily inoperative. (Possibly practising a single engine approach). Due to an insufficient approach airspeed, the aircraft stalled and crashed. Following this accident, training flights with engine shut down were prohibited at RAF Hendon and were operated at RAF Bassingbourn instead.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 p 134)
3. Saskatoon Star-Phoenix 9 February 1948, p 2
4. La Nación (Santiago) 10 February 1948, p7
5. The New York Times, February 10, 1948: https://www.nytimes.com/1948/02/10/archives/2-die-9-hurt-as-plane-hits-bus.html
6. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
7. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.373
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-c19-raf-hendon-2-killed
9. Pathe Newsreel footage: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/plane-hits-trolleybus
10. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-an-raf-anson-hit-a-trolleybus-and-crashed-in-the-busy-edgware-road-20444955.html
11. https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/theodore-urquhart-rolfe-24-gjkr0x
12. https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/flight-lt-william-johstone-mcmeekan-24-jz52t2
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Oak

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
03-Apr-2012 19:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
16-Aug-2012 07:40	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
16-Jan-2016 20:05	JIXN	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
06-Feb-2016 19:30	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
25-Jan-2018 15:38	TB	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
08-Nov-2019 00:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Nov-2019 00:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2019 22:22	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Mar-2022 07:40	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]