Avro Anson N9855

Avro Anson N9855

8 November 1943. Avro Anson N9855 serving with No. 3 (Observer) Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Halfpenny Green crashed in north Wales on a training exercise.

The crew – Canadian, Australian and British – had been tasked with a night navigational exercise from their base in the midlands, across the coast of north Wales and out to the Isle of Man and back. However, the aircraft had drifted off course and impacted near the summit of Pen Yr Ole Wen, with wreckage falling down the north face of the mountain. All crewmen on board were killed in the crash.

Crew:
Sergeant Ernest Andrew Hoagg RCAF (pilot)
Sergeant John Hedgley Lewis RAAF (navigator)
Sergeant William Gavin RAF (bomb aimer)
Sergeant Leslie John Hill RAF (wireless operator / air gunner)
Sergeant Douglas John Roberts RAF (wireless operator / air gunner)

At the crash site some aluminium panels and bits of undercarriage remain. Grid ref; SH 66020 62110. Photo above is looking up to the north face of Pen Yr Ole Wen. The Anson crashed just below the summit.

Below; In May 2015, air cadets and staff from 165 (Castle Bromwich) Squadron laid this memorial stone at the crash site. It reads; “Presented by Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing May 2015 Air Training Corps” and lists the crew and has a picture of an Anson.

Link to Control Towers page for Halfpenny Green airfield