Anson EG269 near Tadcaster.
On 17th May 1943 the crew of this No.5 Air Observer School aircraft were undertaking a low level daytime cross-country navigation training flight, the aircraft was based at Jurby on the Isle of Man and common routes for these training flights by crews attached to No.5 Air Observer School used turning points in South-west Scotland and North-west England. The flight on this occasion probably did route them over Yorkshire because another aircraft of the same unit was damaged in a low flying incident in Yorkshire on the same night so it seems likely both were here for the same reason. The crew of EG269 were flying at such a low level that the aircraft flew into a telegraph pole and / or wires at 11.25hrs around a mile north of Tadcaster in the Easedike Farm and medieval village area and sadly all on board were killed in the resulting crash. The second No.5 A.O.S. received damage to a wing tip while low flying on this date but the crew were able to land at Skipton on Swale airfield.
Anson EG269 was built to contract B.137211/40 by A.V. Roe and Co. Ltd. at Yeadon and was awaiting collection in October 1942. The aircraft was taken on charge as new by 5 A.O.S. at Jurby but the date is not yet known. As a result of the accident on 17th May 1943 Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment which saw it struck off charge.
Pilot - P/O Harry Rhodes RAFVR (144038), aged 23, of Ainsdale, Southport. Buried Birkdale Cemetery, Lancashire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Percy Annetts RAFVR (1337453), aged 20, of Drybrook, Gloucestershire. Buried Drybrook Churchyard, Gloucestershire.
Wireless Operator - Sgt Gerald Henry Charles Watkins RAFVR (1128063), aged 22, of Stoke Goldington. Buried Stoke Goldington Churchyard, Buckinghamshire.
Trainee Navigator - Sgt Jiri Ervin Bleier RAFVR (788340), aged 28. He was a Czech national. Buried Harrogate Stonefell Cemetery, North Yorkshire.
Trainee Navigator - LAC Peter Geoffrey Wilson RAFVR (1624056), aged 20, of Manchester. Cremated Manchester.
Sgt Bleier and his grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
LAC Peter Wilson. I would like to thank Ms Rachel Swift for contacting me in 2013 and for her help in compiling this webpage, her great uncle was LAC Peter Wilson sadly died as a result of this accident. The photograph of Peter Wilson shown above and that of Jiri Bleier were originally supplied to "aircrewremembered.com" before I created this webpage.
Gerald Watkins was the son of Clifford Henry and Mabel Katherine Watkins and Clifford had died in 1940. Gerald's older brother Sgt Desney Clifford Walter Watkins RAFVR had been killed just over a month earlier than Sgt Gerald Watkins while serving with 172 Squadron when Wellington MP508 crashed on a training flight in Devon on 13th April 1943. Sgt Desney Watkins was thirty two years and is buried in the same grave in St.Peter in Stoke Goldington, Buckinghamshire. The two brothers are also commemorated on a memorial window at St.Chad's Church in Ladybarn, Manchester. The photograph of their gravestone shown here was found on "tracesofwar.com" and taken by Clive Lewis.
Harry Rhodes received a commission on 4th March 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) but nothing more is known about him.
