ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 204895
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 February 1941 |
| Time: | 15:00 |
| Type: |  Avro Anson Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 1 ANS RCAF |
| Registration: | 6250 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | in the middle of Oak Lake, Manitoba -
 Canada
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RCAF Rivers, MB |
| RCAF Rivers, MB |
On 25 February 1941, Anson 6250 (ex-RAF W1675) of 1 ANS (Air Navigation School) departed RCAF Rivers MB, on a routine navigation flight. En route, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with heavy snow falls. The pilot did not have enough experience to fly by instruments and tried to fly by visual ground contact through a snow flurry. At approximately 1500 hrs, the aircraft flew into surface of Oak Lake, about 25 miles south-west of Rivers. The aircraft was destroyed and all four men aboard were killed.
Local search parties from the surrounding district searched all night by horse and sleigh for the plane, without success. Search parties from RCAF Rivers joined the search and the wreckage was found at 0800 hrs on the 26th February by Earl Williams, who lived on a farm near Oak Lake. The day before he had seen the plane flying in the storm and was sure it was going to crash and actually heard it. He rode several miles on horseback to look for the crashed aircraft but could not find it because of the storm. Wreckage was strewn for 70 yards around the plane when it was found. The bodies of the crew were found in the twisted wreck.
Their bodies were returned to Rivers on the 27th. They were then sent to their home towns for burial.
RCAF Crew (all killed):
Sgt Joseph Goodwin Butcher (pilot, 25, from Carman, Manitoba)
Sgt William Henry Prest (navigator, 20, from Lucknow, Ontario)
Sgt Harry Albert Howarth (navigator, 19, from London, Ontario)
LAC Lloyd Ross Lancaster (wireless operator, 23, from Rodney, Ontario)
Anson 6250, ex-RAF W1675, had been taken on strength by RCAF at MacDonald Brothers Aircraft in Winnipeg on 4 December 1940. A winter conversion kit was installed during assembly by MacDonald Brothers. The aircraft was then reported with Test & Development Establishment at RCAF Station Rockcliffe, Ontario, but this is not confirmed by the Aircraft Record Card. It went to 2 Training Command on 11 January 1941, for use by 1 Air Navigation School at Rivers, Manitoba.
Sources:
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 26 February 1941, p1
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SCE0ypLQHGcC&dat=19410226&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
https://caspir.warplane.com/crashcards_pdf/0075/00000164.pdf
https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c12327/454
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95590420/joseph-goodwin-butcher
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210268499/william-henry-prest
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141534029/harry-albert-howarth
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157620860/lloyd-ross-lancaster
https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Jan-2018 21:09 | TB | Added |
| 29-Jan-2018 10:22 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Nov-2018 20:31 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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