On the night of 11th / 12th February 1941 the crew of this 218 Squadron aircraft were undertaking an operational flight to bomb Bremen and had set out from their base of Marham, Norfolk at 17.50hrs. On their return to England the wireless failed and the aircraft may have been fired upon and damaged by anti-aircraft fire over the London area. Clearly well off course, and almost certainly out of fuel, it was abandoned over the Tebay area at 02.15hrs. The aircraft eventually crashed onto high ground in the Bretherdale Common area, between Kendal and Shap. The crew are believed to have landed nearby and all escaped serious injury. Technically this aircraft crashed outside of what became the Lake District National Park but is so close and on reasonably high ground I have included it in this listing. Wellington R1210 arrived at 218 Squadron in mid-November 1940 and Anstey and his crew were flying with 218 Squadron were using this as their regular aircraft from December 1940.
Pilot - F/O William Ian Anstey RAF (36214).
Second Pilot - Sgt Edmund Verner Shaw RAFVR (748518).
Observer - Sgt John Henry Jackson RAF (524341).
Wireless Operator - Sgt Thomas James Glyndwr Thomas RAF (615005).
Air Gunner - Sgt Adrian Stanley Robinson RAFVR (967523). Injured ankle on landing.
Air Gunner - Sgt Hugh Stephens RAFVR (968249).
William Anstey was born in March 1919 in New Zealand and originally joined the RNZAF in 1938. He was granted a short service commission in the RAF as P/O on 16th August 1939 and was promoted to F/O on 3rd September 1940. He had served with 218 Squadron while they were flying Battles and then Blenheims in 1940. He and his second pilot Shaw were first posted to Stradishall Training Flight on 2nd April 1941 and then to 70 Squadron in North Africa not long after in April 1941. They flew together with 70 Squadron over the coming months and for service with 70 Squadron William Anstey was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 17th October 1941. The citation for his award reads.."This officer, as captain of aircraft, carried out seven long-distance night bombing attacks during the first fourteen days in August. Four attacks were made on shipping at Benghazi, two attacks on the Corinth canal, and one on the aerodrome at Berca. Good results were obtained on each occasion. Throughout F/O Anstey displayed great efficiency and physical endurance. He has completed forty-three operational missions, involving nearly 300 hours flying." He was promoted to F/Lt on 3rd September 1941. Under the terms of his commission he was transferred to the RAF Reserve of Officers on 16th August 1944 but then relinquished his commission in the RAF on appointment to the RNZAF on 17th August 1944 (the following day).
After his time with 70 Squadron F/Sgt Edmund Shaw was later posted back to the UK and to instruct at 21 OTU. On 21st May 1942 he was the pilot of Anson N5259 that crashed in Oxfordshire sadly killing him. He was twenty two years old and is buried in Dundonald Cemetery, Belfast.
John Jackson later baled out of Wellington R1368 on 22nd April 1941 over Kings Lynn. He was posted to 27 OTU on 24th May 1941 and later received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 29th August 1942 (49755). He was later promoted to F/O on probation on 28th February 1943 and F/Lt on 29th August 1944. He remained in the RAF until relinquishing his commission on 29th January 1959.
Thomas Thomas was to be killed on 14th January 1943 when the aircraft in which he was flying, Halifax W7844 crashed on a trial flight near Kemble airfield sadly killing all eight. The aircraft crashed into Oaksey Woods where a memorial plaque marks the site today. F/Sgt Thomas was twenty four years old and is buried at Kingsbridge Cemetery, Glamorgan. The aircraft was part of the No.1 Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit.
In August 2015 Ade Harris located a witness to this incident in Bretherdale and having gained permission to access the land from the land managers Ade, Alan Clark, Mark Sheldon and I located the crash site in a small valley in Bretherdale. In 1941 the valley was open fell but was later planted with pine trees. Around 2013 these trees were felled. We located numerous small items on the surface across the valley side which confirmed the crash location. The photograph above shows the general area of the crash as seen from the other side of the valley accessed while we had permission to be on the land. The photograph below shows the area of the crash taken from where we believe the aircraft first struck following the line up the side of the valley where our finds were located. My thanks to the land manager for allowing our access to the site.
Some of the items located at the site with typical Wellington part numbers with a "285" prefix.
A small piece of the aircraft, this item carries the "F.B." letter prefix and is located on the Bristol Pegasus engine area. I understand "FB" refers to Messers Fedden and Butler who were the designers for Bristol.
Two further items located.
