Date:	Tuesday 29 December 1953
Time:	evening
Type:	Avro Anson Mk XI
Owner/operator:	231 OCU RAF
Registration:	PH812
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Thames Estuary, off Canvey Island, Essex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro Anson Mk.XI PH812, 231 OCU, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 29 December 1953, when ditched into the Thames Estuary, off Canvey Island, Essex, after both engines failed.

The gyro toppled twice whilst climbing, and after a further twenty minutes into the flight, the R/T failed. The pilot (Flight Lieutenant K. C. HOWARD, RAF (Service Number 571279)) then began a descent through cloud, breaking through the clouds at 2,000 feet, and finding he was over water and out of sight of land.

On checking the compass, it was found that the wrong course had been set on the grid ring. The pilot therefore re-calculated his course, based on his likely position, and reset a course, maintaining VFR. The oil pressure in the port engine then fell away to zero, and the engine was feathered. The engine was unfeathered later to help the aircraft gain height, before being feathered again.

The starboard engine then began to give trouble, so the pilot feathered this engine, and restarted the port engine. However, after a few minutes the port engine failed. As the Anson was now within sight of land, the pilot made a ditching into the Thames Estuary, off Canvey Island, Essex, as close to the shore as possible. Both crew members were rescued while the aircraft was lost when it sank into the Thames.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.171 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
3. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 p 132)
4. Last Take off - A record of RAF Aircraft Losses by Colin Cummings p 438
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-xi-canvey-island
6. https://www.canveyisland.org/history-2/oldphotos/beach/whoops
7. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/137914-information-sought-on-1950-s-anson-crash?goto=newpost

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Sep-2013 08:11	JINX	Added
12-Jan-2016 20:40	JIXN	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
01-Feb-2020 23:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
01-Feb-2020 23:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
01-Feb-2020 23:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Feb-2020 10:03	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
25-May-2021 16:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Narrative]