On 9th August 1943 the crew of this Anson were undertaking a night cross country navigation exercise, a number of other crews flying Ansons were in the air doing the same exercise. In bad visibility this aircraft strayed off the intended course and struck the ground close to the summit of Green Gable. All of the five airmen in the aircraft were injured to varying degrees. One of the two less seriously injured men managed to find his way down to lower level and eventually to Seathwaite Farm in Borrowdale to get help. An airman who survived this crash was found on a rock by a Miss Hilda Haller, a skilled nurse from Hickleton, South Yorkshire, who was on holiday in the Lake District at the time. She found the airman and gave him first aid which would save his life. Rarely for Wartime incidents this live saving act was later recorded in the Westmoreland Times on 24th February 1944 following her commendation. All survivors were admitted to Fusehill Hospital in Carlisle where the Polish pilot later died of his injuries. One of the crew, Sgt Chowney, was Commended for Brave Conduct by King George VI on 31st December 1943 relating to his actions on this night and it seems likely that it was he who went for help down in Seathwaite. Three other Ansons from the same unit crashed in the Lake District on this night, incorrect meteorogical reports were said to have been a contributing factor to all of the incidents occuring.
Pilot - Sgt Waclaw Panasik PAF (P794954), aged 28, died in hospital. Buried at Dumphries Catholic Cemetery.
Air Bomber - F/Sgt Ervin Albert Loppe RCAF (R/176010), aged 19, of Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Troqueer, Dumfriesshire.
Navigator - F/O John P "Jack" Calder RCAF (J/4695), of Goderich, Ontario, Canada. Shock and broken leg.
Navigator - P/O Charles Edward Peake RAF (135917), injured.
Wireless Operator - Sgt Geoffrey Montague Chowney RAFVR (1600232), injured.
Waclaw Panasik was born on 3rd October 1914 at Zelwa, in Wolkowysk District, Poland. Sadly nothing more is known about him.
This Green Gable incident was not Jack Calder's only flying accident; on 25th October 1941 he was serving with 103 Squadron and in Wellington T2506. The aircraft was badly damaged on a raid to Frankfurt and in a strong tailwind overshot England and Wales. The crew later baled out over land and the aircraft crashed near Kilihill, Quilty, in County Clare, Ireland. The crew of six were interned but Calder and two others were able to escape and arrived back in Canada in September 1942. He would later arrive back in England in July 1943, just under a month before the incident on Green Gable. A book, written by his son, Mr Ralph Keefer, described the events. Calder was a Canadian Press reporter, reporting on the National Hockey League before enlisting. F/Lt John Calder was sadly killed on 21st July 1944 when flying in 571 Squadron Mosquito ML984. The aircraft was hit by flak and he sustained injuries in both legs. He baled out but did not survive. He was twenty nine years old and is buried in Kiel War Cemetery. His pilot F/Lt D L Thompson RAF became a PoW. There is plenty on the internet regarding Jack Calder and as there is already a book detailing his career.
Ervin Loppe was born on 13th May 1924 in Oxbow, his father had moved there from South Dakota as a boy in 1894 and lived in the Roscoe district. His mother Hertha Arndt was Russian and moved to Canada in 1913. Ervin was educated at Stony Run, Boscurvis and Regina, and was farming when he enlisted in 1942. His brother was Leo Loppe RCAF, a pilot who survived thirty one operational flights over Europe.
Charles Peake was commissioned to the rank of P/O on probation on 2nd January 1943 and rose to F/O on 2nd July 1943. He survived the War.
Geoff Chowney survived the War and is still living in 2011. I thank both him and his nephew Mr Mark Bumpass for contacting me in October 2011.
Green Gable is the snow covered mountain to the centre-right of the above photograph, Anson DJ222 hit the very top of this mountain.
I first visited the crash site with Will Lund in October 2002 and I revisited the site in April 2011. The photograph above shows the largest of the bare areas containing small peices of this aircraft.
Some of the largest peices at this site.
Two peices containing numbering.
