On 29 September 1940, a
mid-air collision
In aviation, a mid-air collision is an accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and the likelihood of subsequent impact with the ground or sea, very sever ...
occurred over
Brocklesby, New South Wales
Brocklesby is a town in the Riverina region of south west New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire Council local government area, north-west of the regional centre of Albury. In the Brocklesby had a population of 238.
...
, Australia. The accident was unusual in that the aircraft involved, two
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF)
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ...
s of
No. 2 Service Flying Training School, remained locked together after colliding, and then landed safely. The collision stopped the engines of the upper Anson, but those of the machine underneath continued to run, allowing the aircraft to keep flying. Both navigators and the pilot of the lower Anson bailed out. The pilot of the upper Anson found that he was able to control the interlocked aircraft with his
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...
s and
flaps, and made an emergency landing in a nearby paddock. All four crewmen survived the incident, and the upper Anson was repaired and returned to flight service.
Training school and flight details
No. 2 Service Flying Training School (SFTS), based at
RAAF Station Forest Hill near
Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
, New South Wales, was one of several pilot training facilities formed in the early years of World War II as part of Australia's contribution to the
Empire Air Training Scheme
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...
.
After basic aeronautical instruction at an elementary flying training school, pupils went on to an SFTS to learn techniques they would require as operational (or "service") pilots, including instrument flying, night flying, cross-country navigation, advanced aerobatics, formation flying, dive bombing, and aerial gunnery.
No. 2 SFTS's facilities were still under construction when its first course commenced on 29 July 1940.
On 29 September 1940, two of the school's
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ...
s took off from Forest Hill for a cross-country training exercise over southern New South Wales.
Tail number N4876 was piloted by
Leading Aircraftman
Leading aircraftman (LAC) or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is a junior rank in some air forces. It sits between aircraftman and senior aircraftman, and has a NATO rank code of OR-2. The rank badge is a horizontal two-bladed propeller. The ra ...
Leonard Graham Fuller, 22, from
Cootamundra
Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...
, with Leading Aircraftman Ian Menzies Sinclair, 27, from
Glen Innes, as navigator.
Tail number L9162 was piloted by Leading Aircraftman Jack Inglis Hewson, 19, from
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, with Leading Aircraftman Hugh Gavin Fraser, 27, from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, as navigator.
Their planned route was expected to take them first to
Corowa
Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council a ...
, then to
Narrandera
Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...
, then back to Forest Hill.
Collision and emergency landing
The Ansons were at an altitude of over the township of
Brocklesby
__NOTOC__
Brocklesby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south from Habrough, south-west from Immingham, and is located close to the border of both North Lincolnshire and North ...
, near
Albury
Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
, when they made a banking turn.
Fuller lost sight of Hewson's aircraft beneath him and the two Ansons collided amid what Fuller later described as a "grinding crash and a bang as roaring propellers struck each other and bit into the engine cowlings".
The aircraft remained jammed together, the lower Anson's turret wedged into the other's port wing root, and its fin and rudder balancing the upper Anson's port
tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...
.
Both of the upper aircraft's engines had been knocked out in the collision but those of the one below continued to turn at full power as the interlocked Ansons began to slowly circle.
Fuller described the "freak combination" as "lumping along like a brick".
He nevertheless found that he was able to control the piggybacking pair of aircraft with his
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...
s and
flaps, and began searching for a place to land.
The two navigators, Sinclair and Fraser, bailed out, followed soon after by the lower Anson's pilot, Hewson, whose back had been injured when the spinning blades of the other aircraft sliced through his fuselage.
Fuller travelled after the collision, then successfully made an emergency
pancake landing
A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilot ...
in a large
paddock
A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1.
Description
In Canada and the United States of America, a paddock is a small ...
south-west of Brocklesby. The locked aircraft slid across the grass before coming to rest.
As far as Fuller was concerned, the touchdown was better than any he had made when practising
circuits and bumps
In aviation, a touch-and-go landing (TGL) or circuit is a maneuver that is common when learning to fly a fixed-wing aircraft. It involves landing on a runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop. Usually the pilot then circles the a ...
at Forest Hill airfield the previous day. His acting commanding officer, Squadron Leader Cooper, declared the choice of improvised runway "perfect", and the landing itself as a "wonderful effort".
The RAAF's Inspector of Air Accidents, Group Captain
Arthur "Spud" Murphy, flew straight to the scene from Air Force Headquarters in Melbourne, accompanied by his deputy
Henry Winneke
Sir Henry Arthur Winneke, (20 October 1908 – 28 December 1985) was a Chief Justice of Victoria and the 21st Governor of Victoria, from 1974 to 1982.
Early life and career
Winneke was born on 20 October 1908 to the descendants of German immi ...
.
Fuller told Murphy:
Aftermath
The freak accident garnered news coverage around the world, and cast a spotlight on the small town of Brocklesby.
In preventing the destruction of the Ansons, Fuller was credited not only with avoiding possible damage to Brocklesby, but with saving approximately
£40,000 (£ million today) worth of military hardware. Both Ansons were repaired; the top aircraft (N4876) returned to flight service, and the lower (L9162) was used as an instructional airframe.
Hewson was treated for his back injury at Albury District Hospital and returned to active duty; he graduated from No. 2 SFTS in October 1940.
He was discharged from the Air Force as a
flight lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
in 1946.
Sinclair was discharged in 1945, also a flight lieutenant.
Fraser was posted to Britain and flew as a
pilot officer
Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...
with
No. 206 Squadron RAF, based in
Aldergrove, Northern Ireland. He and his crew of three died on 1 January 1942 during a routine training flight, when their
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...
collided with a tree.
Fuller was promoted to
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
after his successful landing, but also confined to barracks for fourteen days and docked seven days' pay for speaking about the incident to newspapers without authorisation.
He graduated from No. 2 SFTS in October 1940, and received a commendation from the
Australian Air Board for his "presence of mind, courage and determination in landing the locked Ansons without serious damage to the aircraft under difficult conditions".
Fuller saw active service first in the Middle East, and then in Europe with
No. 37 Squadron RAF. He earned the
Distinguished Flying Medal
The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional va ...
for his actions over
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
in March 1942.
Commissioned later that year, Fuller was posted back to Australia as a
flying officer, and became an instructor at
No. 1 Operational Training Unit in
Sale, Victoria.
He died near Sale on 18 March 1944, when he was hit by a bus while riding his bicycle.
Legacy
According to the
Greater Hume Shire Council
Greater Hume Shire is a local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in 2004 incorporating Culcairn Shire, the majority of Holbrook Shire and part of Hume Shire. The shire had an esti ...
, the 1940 mid-air collision remains Brocklesby's "main claim to fame".
Local residents commemorated the 50th anniversary of the event by erecting a marker near the site of the crash landing; it was unveiled by
Tim Fischer
Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999.
Fischer ...
, the
Federal Member for Farrer and
Leader of the National Party, on 29 September 1990.
On 26 January 2007, a memorial featuring an Avro Anson engine was opened during Brocklesby's
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...
celebrations.
Notes
References
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External links
Photos of crash sitea
Australia@War*
at
FlightGlobal
FlightGlobal is an online news and information website which covers the aviation and aerospace industries.
The website was established in February 2006 as the website of ''Flight International'' magazine, ''Airline Business'', ''ACAS'', ''Air ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brocklesby mid-air collision
1940 in Australia
Accidents and incidents involving the Avro Anson
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1940
Mid-air collisions
Mid-air collisions involving military aircraft
Riverina
History of the Royal Australian Air Force