On 7th January 1942 those on board this No.1 Air Observer School aircraft were undertaking a routine navigational instruction exercise when the aircraft's outer surfaces rapidly iced up in the Sedbergh area. Control of the aircraft was lost so the pilot ordered those on board to bale out and then he left the aeroplane. It then went on to crash shortly after at 15.15hrs near Cautley. One of the trainee aircraft sustained leg injuries and those occurred following a bad landing probably after leaving the aircraft too low, he was found in his parachute hung-up in a tree nursing his badly injured legs and was brought down from his position by local people who used a farm gate as a stretcher to take him to a nearby property. His leg injuries prevented him flying again though this is not recorded on the AIR81 casualty file for the incident. The pilot received concussion and this is the injury that resulted in an AIR81 casualty file being created. On a previous version of this webpage I claimed five people were on board the aircraft. When I last updated this webpage in March 2020 as far as I can tell only four were on board and all baled out.

Air historian Nick Roberts and also the son-in-law of one member of the crew, Roger Groves, did their own research independently locally. The aircraft appears to have crashed reasonably intact on quite possibly the only flat section of a hillside mid-way up the slope in the Howgill Fells. One person they spoke to recalled that while the site was being guarded by members of the local Home Guard a small explosion within the aircraft resulted in a member of the Home Guard losing an eye.

Anson R3409 was built to contract B.12565/39 by A.V.Roe Ltd. at Newton Heath and was allotted to 10 MU on 13th March 1940. The date it arrived at 10 MU is not recorded on the aircraft's AM Form 78. It was taken on charge by 612 Squadron at Dyce on 11th April 1940. It was transferred to 1 (C) O.T.U. at Silloth on 15th March 1941. It sustained some form of flying accident on 2nd July 1941, the following day No.43 Group D.A. assessed the damage as initially being Cat.E/FA that would have seen it written off. On 7th July 1941 it was re-assessed and downgraded to Re-Cat.B/FA so was taken away and was repaired in a works factory. On 5th August 1941 it was taken on charge by 37 MU and was then taken on charge by 1 A.O.S. at Wigtown on 12th September 1941. As a result of the crash on 7th January 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment. The aircraft may have been transported to A.V.Roe at Manchester as a wreck where it was then assessed again on 14th January 1942 and written off.

Pilot - Sgt Philip Poole Irving RNZAF (NZ.404873). Slightly injured.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner (U/T) - AC2 Edward Claremont Carley RCAF (R/80290).

? - LAC Dennis Anderson Taylor RAF (656815).

Navigator U/T - Cadet Walter Joseph Ashford RAFVR (1217603). Serious leg injuries.

When viewed from a distance and from below there appears to be no flat ground as described.

However when viewed from above there is one long flat section of the hillside which is the only place that can be the area as described by local people.

This is the probable location of where Anson R3409 crashed.

Edward Carley was born in Montreal on 5th February 1920 and was educated at Kelvin High School, Winnipeg. He was the son of Sgt E. Carley and Florence Carley. His father served in the South African War and the First World War. He initially joined the Canadian Army, possibly because he had undertaken radio training prior to the war, but transferred to the RCAF in November 1940. Less than a week after baling out of the Anson over Sedbergh, on 13th January 1942 he was flying in Anson AW850 on a training flight with the same training unit; No.1 A.O.S. when the aircraft crashed at Carsegowan, Wigtown and he was killed. Edward Carley was thirty six years old and is buried at Kirkinner Cemetery, Wigtownshire. He had two brothers, one of which also served in the RCAF.

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