In the early hours of 8th January 1945 the crew on board this aircraft took off from Dumfries at 02.10hrs to undertake a night navigation exercise. At 04.50hrs the aircraft flew into high ground on Burn Moor, in the Corney Fell area which was shrouded in cloud at the time. One member of the crew died as a result of this accident and three others sustained broken legs. The wreckage either caught fire on crashing or the RAF later burnt the wreckage on the site to destroy it.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner (Instructor?) - WO Harold Biffen RAFVR (1336043), aged 23, wife of Bishopsteignton, Devon. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/27A).
Pilot - F/Sgt Stewart Anderson Stephen RAFVR (1521279). Seriously injured.
2 Others - Names unknown. Injured.
Harold Biffen was born in 1922 in the Reigate area of Surrey and was the son of Walter and Helen Biffen (nee Pennycuick). He married Hazel Watling of Bishopsteignton, Devon in early 1944 and she appears to have given birth to a baby son after Harold had died. Harold Biffen flew a Tour with 199 Squadron flying Stirlings earlier in war as wireless operator in F/Lt Catterall's crew. The crew were posted to 199 Squadron from 1651 CU in September 1943 and out of the unit in August 1944. 199 Squadron undertook supply dropping SOE work and also radar jamming during the D-Day landings. He was probably instructing at 10 (O)AFU in January 1945 when this incident on Corney Fell occurred. I credit "Stan Murphy" with his gravestone photograph.
Stewart Stephen was born in April 1923 in the Dundee area and as a young man was a promising sportsman, being offered a trial with Dundee Football Club. Following the crash in the Lake District as detailed above he sustained two severely broken legs and also lost four fingers on his right hand. These injuries resulting in him being discharged from the RAF. Post-war he attended St.Andrew's University, graduating in 1950 (in medicine). He worked for ICI in clinical drugs trial work and later returned to clinical medicine from which he had worked after his degree. He died in May 2010.
Ade Harris and I visited the crash site in less than perfect weather in February 2016 where a sizeable scar remains in the grassy fellside.
A modification plate shown the "R3" Avro code lettering.
Common finds at Anson crash sites are these types of hinges. All have the part number ending in "...3207".
As a footnote to this webpage I would like to add the note that to anyone obtaining a copy of the AM Form 1180 for this incident, a map reference for the location of the crash is given. This is a military map reference on the old "Cassini" or military grid system. Someone in the past has handwritten onto the original accident card "2m SSE of Tebay, on Hare Shaw". This is an error on their part, they have plotted the military map reference onto the modern O.S. grid system which is a completely different system.