Date:	Tuesday 29 May 1951
Time:	night
Type:	Avro Anson T Mk 21
Owner/operator:	1 ANS RAF
Registration:	VS582
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Cross Hands Pub, Tetbury Road, Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Anson T21 VS582 from 1 Air Navigation School, Royal Air Force, written off (destroyed) 29/5/1951 when near Cross Hands Pub, Tetbury Road, Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire Aircraft Flew into hillside in low cloud at night during BABS (Blind Approach Beam System) let down to RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire. However, one of the Student Navigator crew did not operate the REBECCA equipment properly, and the aircraft descended below the briefed safely height, and flew into the ground.

Per a contemporary newspaper report (Wiltshire Times, 2 June 1951): "An Anson aircraft from Hullavington, crashed near the Cross Hands, Chipping Sodbury. Two of the crew, Flt Lt William Ellis Bowden and Flt Lt Newton-Mold were killed. Officer Cadet L G Clarke, who was slightly injured, staggered nearly 2 miles to get help after the crash and Officer Cadet S N Orr sustained a broken leg"

Crew of Anson VS5852:
Flight Lieutenant (40502) William Ellis Bowden, RAF (pilot) - killed on active service 29/5/1951, buried at Iffley, Oxford
Flight Lieutenant (127156) Edwin George Newton-Mold (Staff Navigator) - killed on active service 29/5/1951, buried at Chippenham (London Road) Cemetery, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Officer Cadet L G Clarke (Cadet Navigator) - survived with slight injuries
Officer Cadet S N Orr (Cadet Navigator) - survived with injuries (broken leg)

Note that some sources list the crash location as "one mile east-south-east of Little Sodbury". As noted above, the aircraft came down close to the Cross Hands Pub, Tetbury Road, Old Sodbury. The pub was still in existence 70 years later (see link #7), and the above crash location is based upon the pub's official address. As one of the crew walked 2 miles to get help (presumably at the Cross Hands pub, which would have been the nearest building that had a telephone) the exact crash location is probably between these two points

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.112 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.141
4. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988)
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV
6. http://www.pro-patria.co.uk/Text/Chippenham%20Cemetery/william_Bowden.htm
7. https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/gloucestershire/cross-hands-hotel/
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-t21-little-sodbury-2-killed
9. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf
10. http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/tokyo/mitsushima-12D/bowden.html
11. https://www.militaryimages.net/media/william-ellis-bowden.114590/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
16-Apr-2012 23:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
23-Nov-2018 20:36	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]
24-Jan-2021 00:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Jan-2021 09:30	Uzi	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Destination airport, Operator]