This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can
submit corrected information.
Date: | Thursday 27 March 1947 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Avro Anson Mk 1 |
Owner/operator: | 3 SFTS RAF |
Registration: | LV209 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Wain Hill, 4 miles South WEst of Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk |
Destination airport: | RAF Halton, Wendover, Buckinghamshire |
Narrative:Avro Anson Mk.1 LV209 "FBQ-A", 3 SFTS (Service Flying Training School) RAF: Written off (destroyed) when crashed into a wooded hillside in adverse weather conditions at Wain Hill, 4 miles South West of Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire on 27 March 1949 killing all three crew
The crew was engaged in a training sortie from RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk to RAF Halton, Wendover, Buckinghamshire. While cruising in marginal weather conditions (low cloud and heavy rain), the twin engine aircraft hit the slope of a wooded hillside, located 12 miles south of Aylesbury. All three crew members were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. It appears that the crew did not prepare the mission properly and failed to ask about meteorological conditions prior to the flight. The crew did not take advantage of their radio systems and at the time of the accident, radio contacts with local ATC based at RAF Halton were difficult.
According to a contemporary local newspaper report (Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 2 May 1947):
AIRCRAFT CRASH ON HILL
Pilot May Have Tried to Get Below Fog Bank
Sub/Lieut. Reginald Ernest Northfield (25). of Ashtead Surrey, and Sub/Lieut. Maruice, Georg. Lecocq Barnes (21), of Swanage, were on a training flight from Feltwell, Norfolk, were killed instantly when the aircraft crashed. Northfield and' Barnes were on instructional training. This was stated at the resumed inquest"
Crew of Anson LV209:
Flying Officer Ivor Thomas Arthur Leaversuch RAF (Pilot) Service Number 163196, aged 23, buried at Botley Cemetery, Oxford
Sub-Lieutenant (Air) Reginald Ernest Northfield RN (HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent), buried at All Saints Churchyard, Carshalton, Surrey
Lieutenant Maurice George Lecocq Barnes RN (HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent), aged 21, buried at Maiden Newton Church Cemetery. Maiden Newton, Dorset
Sources:
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.289
3. The Anson File (Ray Sturdivant, Air Britain, 1988 p 105)
4. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News 2 May 1947 (Report of the Inquest into the crew deaths)
5. 3 SFTS RAF ORB for the period 1-1-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/1812:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101522 6.
https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-i-near-aylesbury-3-killed 7.
https://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=26457 8.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2436929/leaversuch,-ivor-thomas-arthur/ 9.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2434127/northfield,-reginald-ernest/ 10.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2709258/barnes,-maurice-george-le-cocq/ 11.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56625095/ivor-thomas-leaversuch 12.
https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1947-01JAN.htm 13.
https://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?23990-470328-Unaccounted-Airmen-28-03-1947&highlight=LEAVERSUCH&p=139593#post139593 14.
https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/wain-hill-wycombe Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
27-Sep-2008 01:00 |
ASN archive |
Added |
26-Apr-2013 05:01 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
28-Apr-2019 11:40 |
Anon. |
Updated [Narrative] |
07-Nov-2019 22:50 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
12-Nov-2019 23:21 |
Anon. |
Updated [Operator, Operator] |
19-May-2023 20:17 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [[Operator, Operator]] |
22-May-2023 19:13 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [[[Operator, Operator]]] |