ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 28883
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| Date: | Thursday 20 November 1947 |
| Time: | 06:37 |
| Type: |  Avro Anson Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | British Air Transport |
| Registration: | G-AIWW |
| MSN: | MG569 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | St Boniface Down, Wroxall, near Ventnor, Isle of Wight -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey (EGCR) |
| Jersey Airport, Jersey, Channel Islands (JER/EGJJ) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Avro Anson Mk. I: Built for RAF as MG569. RAF Service was with 2 (O) AFU, RAF Hendon Station Flight, 1310 Flight, 83 GSU, 1322 Flight, ADS Squadron, and lastly as "7-L" of the OAU. Struck off charge 2.5.46.
First civil registered as G-AIWW (C of R 11040/1; C of A 8907) 18.11.46 to British Air Transport Ltd., Redhill, Surrey. The aircraft record card used the former RAF serial MG569 in lieu of any official Avro c/no.
Anson G-AIWW, formerly RAF MG569, which gained its C of A on 15.11.47, and crashed five days later. It left Croydon with newspapers for the Channel Islands with pilot E.G. Snowden and radio operator R.J. Corrie but nearing the Isle of Wight encountered 10/10ths cloud at 700 ft and, off-course, crashed into a radar pylon on the peak of St Boniface Down. Both crew died and the accident enquiry recorded an 'error of navigation' as the cause of the crash.
According to a contemporary report in Flight Magazine (May 27th 1948 page 573):
"ANSON ACCIDENT
ON November 20th last year Anson G-AIWW, belonging to British Air Transport, Limited, left Croydon at 06:09 hours on a newspaper freight service to the Channel Islands About 40 minutes after taking off the aircraft flew into a radar pylon on high ground in the Isle of Wight about 15 miles west of the normal track between Croydon and Jersey. The pilot and radio officer, the only occupants, were killed.
In the report from the Chief Inspector of Accidents, the observation is made that the pilot informed Uxbridge by W/T that he was over the coast when from the plot he was a considerable distance short of it. In the view of the Chief Inspector, it may have been that at the time of that message, 0629 hours, with sunrise at 0626 hours and low cloud in the area, the pilot might have mistaken some land feature for the coast or, more probably, that he sent the message "over coast" on his E.T.A. on the assumption that he was flying the normal track.
The plot of the aircraft's track suggested that "the pilot flew a steady course from 06:14 to 06:37 hours, when he altered course on receipt of the first QDM from Jersey. In the opinion of the Inspector of Accidents the accident was the result of flying into an obstacle on high ground in conditions of low cloud and poor visibility, which must be attributed to an error of navigation on the part of the pilot."
Registration G-AIWW formally cancelled by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as "crashed" on 16.12.47.
The reported crash location of St Boniface Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located close to the town of Ventnor, in the southeast of the Island, and rises to 241 metres (791 ft), the Island's highest point, 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) north of the town, at approximate Coordinates: 50°36′12.46″N 1°11′55.43″W.
Sources:
1. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 p.110)
2. http://wight.hampshireairfields.co.uk/iowc.html
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AIWW.pdf
4. National Archives (PO Kew) File BT 217/2113: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C576267
5. Flight Magazine May 27th 1948 page 573: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1948/1948%20-%200755.html?search=Anson%20accident
6. http://www.rogersstudy.co.uk/medals/wight_rdg/the_collection/wight_rdg_collection.html
7. http://bbm.org.uk/airmen/Snowden.htm
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-i-saint-boniface-down-2-killed
9. https://onthewight.com/life-at-the-ventnor-radar-station/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Boniface_Down
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 03-Apr-2012 19:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 28-Nov-2019 16:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Nov-2019 16:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 28-Nov-2019 16:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 28-Nov-2019 16:41 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Nov-2019 16:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 06-May-2023 20:16 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[Narrative]] |
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