Date:	Tuesday 8 March 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Avro 652A Anson Mk X
Owner/operator:	Sqn/Ldr Kenneth James Nelson (owner)
Registration:	G-ALFJ
MSN:	NL116
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Croydon Airport, Surrey (EGCR)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Ex-RAF Anson Mk.I NL116. Known RAF Service was with 1322 Flight, ADLS Squadron, and ML Aviation Ltd. Struck off charge 30.9.48. First civil registered (C of R 12494/1) 11.11.48 to Robert Allen Short, Thornton Heath, Surrey. Registration cancelled 18.1.49. Re-registered (C of R 12494/2) 20.1.49 to Squadron Leader Kenneth James Nelson, Croydon, Surrey.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) in a take off accident at Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey 8.3.49; engine failed on take off and aircraft flew into a hangar building. According to an eyewitness report from former Rollason employee, Paul Stevens:

"At Croydon Airport in 1949 there was once an Anson on the roof! G-ALFJ after engine failure on take off from Croydon, luckily no-one was hurt.

I was told a story by some of the more senior members of the Rollason team about an incident of a twin engine aircraft having engine trouble on take-off at Croydon Airport. The engineers on hearing the aircraft rushed to the hanger door to see what was going on. When they got to the door they saw this Anson coming straight at them. They ran to the other side of the hanger to avoid the collision. They said that one of the wings was suspended above their workbench by its undercarriage where they had been working only seconds before."

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Nottingham Journal" - Wednesday 09 March 1949)

"PLANE FLIES INTO HANGAR.
While taking off at Croydon Airport yesterday, the port engine of an Anson aircraft appeared to cut out and the plane flew into the side of a hangar. The pilot, Capt. G. Hinckley, was injured an taken to Croydon Hospital. When the plane came to rest ambulance men brought the pilot down on a stretcher."

Registration G-ALFJ formally cancelled by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as "crashed 8/3/49 at Croydon". The official file on this accident - File BT217/2455, held at The National Archives at Kew - is closed for 100 years, until 1/1/2050. According to a note appended to the file "Closed Or Retained Document, Open Description; Closed For 100 years. FOI decision date: 2018. Exemption 1: Personal information where the applicant is a 3rd party. Exemption 2: Regulation (EU) No. 996/2010". (See link #5). Even stranger, the other file held by the National Archives (File BT217/2474, see link #6) is open to public scrutiny!

Some collateral damage resulted from G-ALJF landing on the roof of hangar D at Croydon. In the hangar below was Miles Gemini G-AJWE, which was damaged by falling debris resulting from the Anson's impact with the roof.

1. British Civil Aircraft Registers 1919-1999. Compiled by Michael Austen. Air Britain (Historians) Ltd 1999. ISBN 0 85130 281 5
2. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 pp 126 & 302)
3. The Sphere - Saturday 19 March 1949
4. http://www.janestevens.co.uk/rollason/index.htm
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652a-anson-i-croydon-0
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALFJ.pdf
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/2455: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C576609
8. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 217/2474: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C576628
9. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 4/11: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C485968
10. Photo of wreckage: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1439760/
11. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14221.0
12. http://www.airportofcroydon.com/Disasters.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
23-Jan-2010 10:50	John Baker	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
16-Mar-2012 08:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
12-Jan-2013 05:13	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, ]
10-Mar-2014 01:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
31-Mar-2019 02:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative, ]
31-Mar-2019 02:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
10-Dec-2019 19:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
15-Jan-2020 19:00	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Operator, ]
26-Feb-2020 21:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, ]
26-Feb-2020 21:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, ]
08-Mar-2020 17:41	DG333	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
01-Dec-2020 20:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
25-Jul-2024 18:54	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Operator, ]