Date:	Sunday 13 April 1941
Time:	13:06 LT
Type:	Avro Anson Mk I
Owner/operator:	19 OTU RAF
Registration:	N9857
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Irmir Fada, Meall nan Caorach, Ben More Assynt, Inchnadamph -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kinloss
Destination airport:	RAF Kinloss

Narrative:
On 13th April 1941 the aircraft took off from Kinloss at 10.18hrs, the crew of six were to undertake a navigation exercise. On board were a number of trainees and flying with them was at least two instructors. The pilot was an experienced bomber pilot awarded a DFC some months earlier and almost certainly posted to Kinloss to act as a pilot in a training role and for a rest from Bomber Command operational flying. After take off they headed West and used Oban as a turning point, from there they were directed to fly to Stornaway, then to Cape Wrath, down to Achnashellach Station in Glen Carron and then the plan was to return to base. A reasonable distance but probably a routine training flight.

The crew radioed base at around 13.00hrs to say they were at Cape Wrath but soon after a faint message was picked up to say that the aircraft was icing up and the port engine was losing power and later failed. These icing conditions effected control of the aircraft and its ability to stay in the air with its aerodynamics changed.

The weather was to play a further part, this was the worst snow this part of Scotland had reported in 100 years, losing height and flying in near white-out conditions the aircraft clipped high ground to the North-West of Ben More Assynt, a Munro to the east of the small village of Inchnadamph in Sutherland. The aircraft crashed pretty much straight away into a very boggy but flat section of the mountain range. It is highly probable that many of the crash survived the actual crash despite being severely injured.

Because of the very deep snow no trace of the aircraft was found for a period of time. It was not until the 25th May 1941 that a shepherd, a Mr Law, who was tending to sheep in the area came across the wreckage of the aircraft. The crew had been dead for some period of time, their injuries and the extreme cold would sadly have prevented any hope of survival.

The body of an airman, Sgt Mitchell, was found some distance to the east of the crash under a large boulder suggesting that he had attempted to go for help. Unknown to him ease took him away from any civilization. The cold and injuries had also taken his life. Had he gone west the distance which would have had to be covered surely have been too great for him to have survived.

Because of the remoteness and the time since the crew had died it was considered best to bury them on the mountain. A cairn was then erected over their grave. After the War the CWGC visited the location and decided on leaving the crew in their mountain grave. Other such sites are marked by the CWGC style grave marker but this location is without such a marker.

Three other local people lost their lives during this winter because of its severity, their names are not known.

Pilot - F/O James Henry Steyn DFC RAF (42275), aged 23, of Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.
Observer - P/O William Edward Drew RAF (45356), aged 28, of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire.
Observer (U/T) – Sgt Charles McPherson Mitchell RAFVR (992122), aged 31, of Ballater, Aberdeenshire.
Wireless Operator – F/Sgt Thomas Brendon Kenny RAF (551620), aged 20. of Barnsley, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Jack Emery RAFVR (976995), aged 20, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – Sgt Harold Arthur Tompsett RAFVR (931417), aged 20, of Croydon, Surrey.

It is unusual in that the men who perished are buried at the site - a poignant and eerie place to be. This makes the crash site on the the highest (and remotest) War Graves in the UK. There is also a memorial at the church at Inchnadamph.

[LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/n9857.html]
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/187859
http://www.archieraf.co.uk/scs/ansonn9857.html
http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/avro-anson-n9857-ben-more-assynt/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Apr-2012 13:58	Dr. John Smith	Added
01-Feb-2013 15:08	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative]