Date:	Saturday 6 August 1955
Time:	19:35
Type:	Avro Nineteen I
Owner/operator:	Fairways (Jersey) Ltd
Registration:	G-AHIG
MSN:	1322
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 11
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Solent Estuary, off Calshot Pier, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Jersey Airport, Jersey, Channel Islands (JER.EGJJ)
Destination airport:	Blackbushe, Hampshire (BBS/EGLK)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Built for RAF as Avro Anson C.XIX TX245, but not delivered, and instead civil registered as G-AHIG (C of R 10080/1; C of A 7612) 30 April 1946 to Railway Air Services Ltd., London SW1. Sold on and re-registered nine times between 30 April 1946 and 25 April 1955

Avro 19 Anson G-AHIG had been registered to Fairways (Jersey) Ltd., on 25 April 1955. On 6 August 1955 the Anson already had made two return flights from Jersey to Blackbushe Aerodrome, Hampshire, and at 18:41 it took off again for Blackbushe. At 19:25 it was approaching St Catherine's Point, on the Isle of Wight, at 2300 feet when the pilot radioed London ATC to say that his starboard engine was running rough and, subsequently, that the constant speed unit had failed and the engine was losing power. He gave notice of his intention to divert to Eastleigh Aerodrome. The pilot's attempts to resolve the problem were futile and the aeroplane was losing height.

By 19:30 the pilot reported having descended to 1000 feet over the Isle of Wight and two minutes later he was at 800 feet as he approached the north coast of the Isle of White and the Solent. Three minutes later, when he was 4 miles east of Calshot, the Anson's port engine lost power. The pilot immediately issued a MAYDAY call and ditched in the Solent, off Calshot, at 19:36.

The Anson made an exemplary touchdown on the water, with only minor injuries being suffered by a passenger who failed to secure his seatbelt (fractured ribs) and the occupant of the co-pilot's seat (cut face). The aeroplane remained afloat for sufficient time to enable the pilot and the ten passengers to evacuate it safely, don their life jackets, take to the water and be rescued by a passing yacht. The Anson is reported as having sunk (although one has to assume that the hull was salvaged as the AAIB report refers to it and its engines undergoing subsequent examination).

The subsequent AAIB report determined that the cause of the crash was that the Anson had run out of fuel. Whilst the pilot averred that, whilst on the ground at Jersey, he had checked the fuel gauges and had satisfied himself that there was sufficient fuel in the tanks for the flight to Blackbushe, the latter was not the case. No independent assessment of the contents of the fuel tanks had been undertaken at Jersey (for which Fairways was subjected to criticism by the AAIB Inspector) and the pilot relied on his reading of the fuel gauges erroneously to assume that the Anson had been refuelled at Jersey. The pilot was also criticised for assuming a starboard engine fault, whilst over the Isle of Wight, rather than suspecting fuel starvation. Had he done so, he could have diverted to an aerodrome on the Isle of Wight, rather than continuing the flight over water when the fuel was practically exhausted, with a significantly different outcome.

Registration G-AHIG cancelled 9 August 1956 as "PWFU" ("Permanently Withdrawn From Use")

1. Member of yacht crew
2. The Anson File (Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain, 1988 pp 137 & 294)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/119: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414891
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/120: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414892
5. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?114237-Avro-19-crash-in-Solent-August-1955
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AHIG-1.pdf
7. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AHIG-2.pdf
8. https://www.airteamimages.com/avro-anson_G-AHIG_bea---british-european-airways_115474.html
9. ICAO Circular 50/AN-45 No.38 (Accident Report): https://www.baaa-acro.com/sites/default/files/import/uploads/2017/06/G-AHIG.pdf
10. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-652-anson-c19-calshot
11. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14219.0

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
08-Jun-2010 10:28	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
06-Jan-2012 02:41	JohnO	Updated [Source, Narrative]
07-Jan-2012 02:11	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
19-Mar-2012 11:47	TB	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
09-Dec-2012 13:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Jan-2014 17:44	TB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
17-Dec-2019 19:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source]
26-Feb-2020 02:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
26-Feb-2020 02:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
26-Feb-2020 02:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]