On 9th August 1943 at least three Ansons of the same training unit were being flown on night time cross-country training flights. Anson N5053 was on the second leg of the flight, flying between Brampton, Cumberland and Douglas, Isle of Man and in bad visibility with a strong wind blowing, this aircraft strayed off the intended course and struck the ground close to the summit of Great Dodd on the northern end of the Helvellyn ridge. The aircraft was found reasonably intact virtually on the summit with the engines having broke away on impact. One of the crew died as a result of the incident and the other members of the crew escaped dispite suffering injuries. The day after the crash a guard was placed on it but before this some local boys walked to the aircraft and seems to have been free to look around it, some removing fuel for motorcycles. The aircraft was eventually removed from Great Dodd using sledges and Bren gun carriers down to a road on the north-east side. Nothing is visible on the surface at the site today. A large area of Great Dodd was searched in 2012 by both myself and Ade Harris with only two fragments of an aircraft being found at the top of Mill Gill but this was not where it crashed. Ade Harris had tracked down a witness to the incident who visited the crash site in the days after the accident and recalled that he believed the aircraft had been flying roughly east to west prior to the crash because of the position of the engines and the wreckage trail.
Of those listed below Sgt Convery was Commended for Brave Conduct for his actions as a result of this incident, Gazetted on 1st January 1944. This was the same date as another survivor of the Anson crash on Green Gable the same night in the Lake District.
Pilot - Sgt Waclaw Mackiewicz PAF (P/794941), aged 29. Buried Dumfries RC Cemetery, Scotland.
? - Sgt John Convery RAFVR (1131239). Injured.
? - Sgt Foster Wilson RAF (657754). Injured.
? - Sgt Arnold David McAdorey RCAF (R/114350). Injured.
? - Sgt John Charles Eaton RAF (1292440). Injured.
Sgt Mackiewicz and his gravestone. His photograph was found on "niebieskaeskadra.pl".
Arnold McAdorey was born on 2nd October 1909 in Strathroy, Welland, Ontario, Canada and was the son of John James and Margaret (nee O'Callaghan) McAdorey who had married in Belfast before emigrating to Canada. He moved to Niagara Falls as a young boy where he attended school. He married Margaret Mary McCluskey in Niagara Falls in April 1942. He was probably injured severely enough as a result of the crash on Great Dodd to be repatriated to Canada as his obituary states that he was working for the Canadian Customs in 1944 until 1969 in the Niagara Falls area. From 1969 to 1975 he worked as a schools assessment review officer. He died in June 1981, aged 72.
Two small fragments of what must be fragments of this Anson were located by Ade Harris and I during a series of visits to the area between January and May 2012. Both fragments certainly appear to be parts of aircraft similar to other fragments of Ansons seen at other crash sites. These two pieces were found at the top of Mill Gill but the aircraft did not crash there, exactly how they got into this gully is open to question but they were probably caught on sheep wool and dragged down. Information added to the "Aviation Safety Network" website in March 2012 stated that this aircraft crashed on nearby Watson's Dodd, however no other reference to this location has been found anywhere. Ade Harris' witness stated that the aircraft crashed on top of Great Dodd and I dismiss the Watson's Dodd reference.
The two fragments of what must be from an aircraft located at the top of Mill Gill.
