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 summit of Pen-yr-Ole Wen (3210 feet), map ref 121840 of 1" sheet 41. The A/C was an Anson (N.9855) from Halfpenny Green. The rear part of the fuselage and tail plane were lying intact almost upside on a rock near the summit, but the remainder of the A/C was found scattered all the way down the gulley almost as far as Ffynnon Lloer. 4 dead bodies were found about 20 feet below the fuselage (referred to above) on the extremely steep mountain side on small loose rocks and stones. Humber at mountain H.Q was contacted on the Walky Talky pack set but no definite information was available at that time about the no. of occupants that were in the plane. Party then returned to Humber & jeep and on arrival it was learnt that there were five members of the crew in that Anson when it left Halfpenny Green. Llandwrog base was contacted on W/T and a search party was requested. While awaiting the arrival of the search party the crew of M.R.S slept in the Humber tent. At dawn the M.O. sent the crew pf M.R.S back to SSQ (Retaining the W OP to operate the Humber Wireless Set.) M.O.Engineer Officer and search party then climbed to the crash and the fifth body was immediately found near the other four. It was then quite light, and although in the previous search in the early hours of that morning the moon had

been shining, it was not so bright that the fifth body could not have been missed. All five occupants of the A/C had received multiple injuries and must have died instantaneously. There was no sign of burning either of the bodies or of the airframe but it is possible that the detached engines had caused the fire which had originally been seen. The party and M.O. proceeded slowly to the vehicles with the 5 bodies, and the last section of the party arrived there at 1545 hrs. M.R.S crew arrived at SSQ at 1645 hrs. The weather conditions were excellent throughout. Visibility was good, there was no rain, and the wind was negligible. Communications between pack sets, Humber,

Additional information provided by Dave Earl

8th November 1943.

ANSON MK1 N9855. 3 AOS. HALFPENNY GREEN.

Aircraft took off from Halfpenny Green,Wolverhampton, on a night navigation exercise, it crashed into the rocky crags of Pen-yr-ole-wen, Nr Bethesda,at 20.30hrs bursting into flames and killing all 5 crew. G/R 115/657622. Impact point. Some small bits of wreckage reported to be at 115/660621.

PILOT: SGT ERNEST ANDREW HOAGG. RCAF. Buried Chester (Blacon) Cem. Sec.A. G. 677.

NAV: SGT JAMES HERBERT LEWIS. RAFVR. From Ealing, On Runnymeade. Panel 156. (Lewis is noted as being 97 Sq in CWGC records, so I think he had been posted to 3 AOS as an instructor, perhaps he had already done a tour of ops? He was 31 years old).

A/B. SGT WILLIAM GAVIN. RAFVR. Aged 20 from Motherwell.
Buried Dalziel (Airbles) Cemetery, Motherwell, Lanarkshire. Sec.G. Grave 698.

W/AG: SGT LESLIE JOHN HILL. RAFVR. Aged 20. of Forest Gate, London. Buried City of London Cemetery. Square 288 Grave 111201.

W/AG: SGT DOUGLAS JOHN ROBERTS. RAFVR. Aged 20. of Leicester. Buried Kirby Muxloe Cemetery, Leicester. Row 62. Grave. 2078.