Anson near Cautley, Sedbergh.

On the 7th of January 1942 the crew on board this aircraft were being given routine navigational instruction when the aircrafts outer surfaces rapidly iced up. Control was lost so all but the pilot abandoned the aircraft which he crash landed near Cautley, to the north of Sedbergh, at 15.15hrs. The pilot is not thought to have been injured but one other member of the crew did sustain injuries and did not fly again. I learn that after his decent he ended hung-up in a tree nursing his smashed legs, and was brought down and recovered by local people who used a farm gate as a stretcher (as appears often the case).

Pilot - Sgt Philip P Irving RNZAF (404873), ok.

LAC Carey, ok.

Navigator U/T - Cadet Walter Joe Ashford (1217603), serious leg injuries.

2 crew - Unknown, ok.

I have yet to locate the crash site but through investigations by Nick Roberts in 2007 I learn that the site is almost certainly not at Cautley Spout as suggested in a number of sources but nearer Cautley church.

I would like to thank Mr R Groves for contacting me with regard this incident and his father-in-law Joe Ashford.