Anson T.1 LV222 near Little Driffield.
On the night of the weekend of 12th / 13th April 1947 this No.10 Air Navigation School aeroplane was one of five that undertook night navigation exercises across England. Unfortunately just one returned safely to land at Driffield, one crashed near Watford while two landed at Woodbridge. Anson LV222 was the fifth and while it was possible to fly above a level of cloud once the crew neared Driffield they had to descend to make an approach to land. Once the crew were down at low level thick fog became a major problem for them and they lost their position. They descended over the rising ground to the north of Driffield. The aircraft was running low on fuel by the time it struck the ground close to Spellow Farm, narrowly missing woodland and the buildings, crossed over a road and came to rest in a field just beyond the farm. Having come to rest between two straw stacks the four crew got clear of the aircraft but they had no idea where they were and the fog prevented them seeing anything. The two pilots sustained injuries but two others on board appear to have escape injury. The uninjured built piles of straw and set fire to them to attract attention but this did not work. Nearly two hours later, at 4am (possibly by now dawn) they went around the aeroplane and saw they were close to a farmhouse and went to seek help. Search parties were already out looking for the aircraft by the time they attracted the attention of Mrs G. Dales at Spellow Farm who telephoned for assistance and a local doctor and the RAF arrived soon after. It was later stated that because of the fog and once the fuel level became low the pilot should have climbed the aeroplane to allow crew to bale out rather than to continue and make a forced landing.
Pilot - Name unknown. Minor injuries.
Second Pilot - W/O W Mochley, broken arm.
Two further crew - Uninjured.