Date:	Tuesday 4 June 1940
Time:	00:10 LT
Type:	Avro Anson Mk I
Owner/operator:	48 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L7047
MSN:	OY-P
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Solent Estuary, Off Hayling Island, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Thorney Island, Emsworth, Hampshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Avro Anson Mk.I L7047 (OY-P) 48 Squadron, RAF: Lost during an Anti-Submarine Convoy Patrol operation on the night of 3rd/4th June 1940

Took off 22:30 hrs on 3rd June 1940 from Thorney Island. Blinded by searchlight on the approach to Thorney Island and ditched off Hayling Island. Located by another 48 Squadron Anson, R3305, piloted by Pilot Officer P.W. Dunn, he returned to base and reported the position, returning again to the scene of the accident and remaining in the vicinity until the crew were rescued by the Hayling lifeboat, the motor lifeboat "Jesse Lumb". As the official Air Ministry file (File AIR 81/2209) into the incident states: "Pilot Officer C C Proby, Pilot Officer B A P Williams, Leading Aircraftman W McIlvenney, Leading Aircraftman A V Wallace: injured; aircraft accident, Anson L7047, 48 Squadron, 4 June 1940"

Note that, as the official date of the loss was 4th June, and the aircraft took off on the evening of the 3rd, it can be implied that the crash was in the early part of June 4th, that is, shortly after midnight.

Crew of Anson L7047:
Pilot Officer Carson C. Proby, RCAF 41321 - safe
Pilot Officer B A P Williams - safe
Leading Aircraftman W McIlvenney - safe
Leading Aircraftman A V Wallace - injured

Carson C. Proby died as a Flying Officer with 413 (R.C.A.F.) Sqdn., age 27, 22/10/1941. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. The Anson File (Roy Stuartivant, Air Britain, 1988, p 44)
3. Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941), Midland publishing, 2003. ISBN: 1 85780 128 8
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/2209: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16471456
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/48_squadron.html#0306
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-i-raf-thorney-island
7. http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/lw/seeflieger-verluste.htm
8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ww2images/6897141963/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Apr-2012 12:12	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Aug-2012 14:17	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
14-Aug-2013 21:51	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative]
10-Jul-2015 19:30	DG333	Updated [Operator, Departure airport]
06-Sep-2019 19:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Time, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Sep-2019 19:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]