On 11th September 1937 at 06.50hrs an Anson took off from Thornaby airfield for a Home Fleet exercise somewhere in a wide area off Scotland. The crew of this aircraft carried out their task and made their return south, passing Newcastle just before 10.00hrs and making their way along the coastline towards the Middlesbrough area. The weather over the North-East at the time was very bad and it was thought that the navigator had missed the turn inland when over the Tees estuary because of the poor visibility. Flying at a height of 750ft the aircraft passed over Guisborough, which those on the aircraft took to be Greatham. The two towns looked similar from above and in the bad visibility the mistake could be made. The aircraft flew over Guisborough and ploughed into the hillside near Belmont Mine at 10.45hrs killing all four on board instantly. Local people had heard the plane fly over just before the accident and the engines falling silent in the resulting crash, many of them made their way up onto the moor to try and locate the site which they could not see because of the fog from the valley below. Nothing could be done for the airmen, the locals helped to carry their bodies down off the moor and they were later taken to the Admiral Chanoler Hospital where they lay until removal for burial. An inquest was later held and a verdict of accidental death was returned on all four men. During this inquest it was stated that the captain and navigating officer of the aircraft was P/O Lowden. Although the captain, it was thought that he had not been the actual pilot at the time of the crash. It was also said that because of the weather and very poor visibilty the airmen would take turns to be the pilot.
Anson K8778 was built to contract 497338/36 by A.V. Roe Ltd at Woodford and delivered directly to 233 Squadron on 25th May 1937. The aircraft sustained Cat.W/FA damage as a result of the incident detailed above and was struck off charge with total flying time of 93.40 hours.
(Pilot) - P/O Leonard William Lowden RAF, aged 21, of Westfield, Newport, Fifeshire. Burial location unknown.
(?) - Acting P/O Hugh Gordon McDonald RAF, aged 22, of Salisbury, Rhodesia and late of Duthie Terrace, Aberdeen. Burial location unknown.
(?) - Acting P/O David Sorley Munro RAF, aged 19, of South Street, St Andrews. Buried Renfrew (Arkleston) Cemetery, Glasgow.
Wireless Operator - AC1 Thomas Douglas RAF, aged 18, of Duke Road, Millfield, Sunderland. Burial location unknown.
David Munro was granted a short service commission in the RAF as Acting P/O on pronation on 2nd November 1936. He was posted to 233 Squadron, then at Thornaby on 30th June 1937 and was graded as P/O on 31st August 1937. The photograph above shows David Munro's gravestone
in Arkleston Cemetery, Glasgow. My thanks to C.J. Dickie of Perthshire for this photograph.
A number of photographs are known to exist of the crashsite.
Another view of the crashsite - photograph via Mr David Earl. I have yet to locate the crash site but am told vertually nothing remains today. The area is now heavily forested and the site will take some tracking down.
This photograph shows one of what must be only afew remaining peices of the aircraft and was kindly provided by Mr Tony Johnson formerly of Guisborough, the peice remains in his collection. I thank him for contacting me and for sending me this photograph.
Leonard Lowden was trained at RAF Cranwell and completed his course on 18th December 1936 receiving a commission in the RAF as P/O. He was firstly posted to the School of Air Navigation at Manston prior to being posted to join 233 Squadron in May 1937 (then at Boscombe Down). He was the Station Adjutant at Thornaby at the time of his death and so an article in December 2003 edition of Aeroplane magazine recounts, his kit was auctioned off to his fellow officers which was common practice at the time. Nothing more is known about his life.
Hugh McDonald was posted to 233 Squadron on 7th August 1937.
