ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27915
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| Date: | Saturday 13 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Airspeed Oxford Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 418 (City of Edmonton) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | LB537 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Clogwyn Pryfed, Caernarfonshire, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Hartford Bridge, Hampshire |
| RAF Abbotsinch, Glasgow |
On the morning of 13 January 1945 four personnel from 418 Sqn RCAF took off in the unit’s Airspeed Oxford I LB537 to fly to RAF Abbotsinch near to Glasgow (now the City’s airport) from their home station of RAF Hartford Bridge (now called Blackbushe) via RAF Woodvale near Southport. When the aircraft failed to arrive at Woodvale or any other station it was reported missing.
Nothing further was heard or seen of the aircraft until the 5th February when a shepherd working on Clogwyn Pryfed hill above Llyn Crafnant, a lake near Trefiw, Conwy, at at the southern end of the Carneddau mountain range, discovered the wrecked aircraft at a place called Cornel Min and the bodies of the four airmen. He reported his find immediately and a team was summoned from the RAF Mountain Rescue Servive at Llandwrog. They reached the site after dark so postponed any further action until the following day, when they recovered the bodies and identified the aircraft as the Oxford that had been posted as missing a little over 3 weeks earlier.
Very little, a few scraps of metal, is left now where LB537 crashed, by 53.12215°N, 3.87422°W.
Crew:
P/O (J/93816) James FIRTH (2.Pilot) RCAF - killed
F/Lt (54445) Tommy MATTHEW (1.Pilot) RAF - killed
F/O (J/25749) Walter Paul RETZER (pass./Nav.) RCAF - killed
F/O (171.262) Geoffrey DAY (pass./Nav.) RAFVR - killed
Sources:
1. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/category/crash_sites/wales/
2. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/airspeed-oxford-lb537-cornel-min/
3. https://geotopoi.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/llyn-crafnant-airspeed-oxford-lb537-418-squadron-13-jan-1945/
4. http://www.baaa-acro.com/1945/archives/crash-of-an-airspeed-as-10-oxford-in-united-kingdom-4-killed/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 25-Mar-2009 08:00 | PDAAR | Updated |
| 14-Jan-2016 14:24 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Jul-2017 19:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Feb-2020 16:33 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 05-Jul-2022 08:59 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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