Wartime Wreck Found On Vancouver Island

[Ian M Macdonald]

An interesting find on the south west coast of Vancouver Island;
http://lookoutnewspaper.com/second-w...ircraft-found/
If, as speculated, it is the Anson missing in October 1942, it is L7056 of 32 OTU.

Ian Macdonald

[paulmcmillan]

Ian thanks has anyone have a crew list for L7056 (if it is that aircraft)

Paul

[Resmoroh]

This might be them (from CWGC)?

LAWRENCE, ANTHONY WILLIAM
Pilot Officer 129408 30/10/1942 21 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve United Kingdom Panel 1. Column 3. OTTAWA MEMORIAL
LUCKOCK, ROBERT ERNEST
Sergeant 1332144 30/10/1942 21 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve United Kingdom Panel 1. Column 4. OTTAWA MEMORIAL
BAIRD, WILLIAM
Sergeant R/131545 30/10/1942 Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian Panel 1. Column 5. OTTAWA MEMORIAL
FOX, CHARLES GEORGE
Pilot Officer 129395 30/10/1942 31 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve United Kingdom Panel 1. Column 3. OTTAWA MEMORIAL

HTH
Peter Davies

[paulmcmillan]

Peter

Looks very likely they were crew of L7056 (which may not be the wreckage found) all 4 are on the same Canadian casualty list #416 8th November 1942 as "Missing"

Lawrence was from Thornton Heath, Surrey
Luckock was from Brentwood, Essex
Baird, was from Brooks, Alberta Canada
Fox was from Carshalton, Surrey

They were all listed as presumed dead July 1943

BTW Lawrence, Luckock and Fox were all on 32 OTU at time they went missing, the same unit as Anson L7056

[Resmoroh]

I've just realised that the crash site is in the back-yard (so to speak) of our own Special Correspondent in the area - Rob Stitt! If he's on the circuit we may get some more info on positive identification?
HTH
Peter Davies

[Ian M Macdonald]

Yes, those men were on board L7056 and, yes, it was from 32 OTU but keep in mind that the identity of the wreck is not yet confirmed.

Ian Macdonald

[jmel]

L7056 was on a Navex .....Pat Bay, Port San Juan (Port Renfrew), Cape Beale, Pat Bay.
JM

[Dakota]

G'day Chaps

Avro Anson Mk. I. s/n L7056 from No. 32 O.T.U.

Pilot – 1332144 Sergeant R. E. Luckock

Navigator – 1336878 Pilot Officer C. G. Fox

Navigator - 1333943 Pilot Officer A. W. Lawrence

Wireless Operator - R131545 Warrant Officer W. Baird

The aircraft went missing on a routine navigation exercise (Navigational Exercise 3), on the 30th of October, 1942 . At 09:10 hours, one hour after the aircraft was overdue, a search was made by several aircraft and further searches were conducted until the 3rd of November, All efforts to find the aircraft
were fruitless.

The Accident Investigation Board concluded that the exact cause was unknown but probably due to bad weather. The pilot had very little instrument time. It was a considered opinion that the aircraft was lost at sea or damaged and that the occupants may reasonably presumed to be dead either on Vancouver Island or near it.

Cheers...Chris

[Resmoroh]

Hi All,

OK, so working on what we know at the moment, this is the scenario. Anson L7056 + 4 crew is scheduled to carry out a NAVEX from RCAF Patricia Bay (Pat Bay - c.23ft AMSL)) over south-western Vancouver Island. The NAVEX route was Pat Bay – Port Renfrew – Cape Beale – Pat Bay. Total distance c.145 nm. ‘Faithful Annie’ cruises at c.150 kts (Wiki), therefore the trip should have taken c.1 hr (in still air – and this might be crucial).

At the Flight Planning stage the Navs would have seen that on Leg 1 they had some reasonably high terrain to avoid – to whit:
After 7.3 nm Old Baldy Mt at 1548 ft by 0.6 nm
After 16 nm Mt Lazar at 2775 ft by 0.0
After 20 nm Mt Todd at 3185 ft by 0.6 nm
After 26 nm Mt Demers at 3536 ft by 1.2 nm
(all these come up on GE if you up the mag enough).

So you would need to plan a Flight Level of - it is suggested – 5000+ ft (or whatever the quadrantal separation level system was in Canada at the time – assuming there was one?). Now ‘Faithful Annie’ – if she lifted up her skirts – could climb at 750 ft/min (Wiki). It would take c.7 mins to 5000 ft. 7 mins @ 150 kts = c.17.5 nm. If they were VFR on the climb-out they could have avoided the mountains. If, however, there was some IFR then they seem to have got it right.

Next, we have to consider the subsequent Impact Point. This is c.2000 ft AMSL. Here comes the first major problem. Did they fly the same time/distance leg as NAVEX Leg 1 but at +6 deg of heading? (this is crucial) from the NAVEX leg (the a/c compass may have been suspect?? - but it probably rules out True/Mag errors?). If so then they would, almost certainly, have collided with Mt Modeste (3681 ft). This says to me that they were cruising, at that point, well above 3681 ft. BUT, at the end of the time that they had calculated would take them to the Turning Point at the end of Leg1 they were (by now?) in 10/10ths clag? - the dreaded 'upslope stratus' (Lyneham/Brawdy/St Mawgan Forecasters/Obervers will know what I'm talking about!!) SO, being over the sea (or so they thought) they descended to break cloud and get a fix from some point on the west Vancouver Is coast. BUT, they were 5 nm from the coast, and ended up with the ‘Chocolate Box Problem’ – i.e ‘the chocolate/cloud with the hard centre’!

I am waiting for NOAA Archives and/or Canadian Met to come up with charts/figures for the day (and it is proving difficult to extract the data). But my initial thoughts are that there was a low pressure system to the west of Vancouver Is, and that the S’ly(?) winds over the NAVEX were actually stronger than the crew had been given at Met Briefing, thus forcing their actual flown track to the north of the Leg 1 track.

Je reste ma valise! Any comments?

HTH
Peter Davies

[Resmoroh]

Hello All,
Has anybody heard anything more on this? I've now got a Met chart for the place/time. Might confirm my earlier suspicions!
Rgds
Peter Davies