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Spurr, Robert Harold (Flight Sergeant)

Killed in Flying Accident 1943-February-24

Birth Date: 1923 (age 20)

Son of Harold Isaac and Hattie B. Spurr, of New Westminster, British Columbia.

Home: New Westminster, British Columbia

Service
RCAF
Unit
8 AOS- Air Observer School
Base
Ancienne Lorrette, Quebec, Canada
Rank
Flight Sergeant
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
R/128924
8 Air Observer School, Ancienne Lorette, Quebec. Two Anson aircraft collided. Sergeant Hathaway was killed in Anson aircraft DG 893 when it was in a mid-air collison with Anson 6479 before they crashed 1,000 feet apart, eight miles south of Ancienne Lorette at St Nicholas, Quebec. FS R.H. Spurr and a civilian pilot, Mr. P. Beck, were in aircraft 6479 and were also killed. Sergeant Pilot Hathaway is buried in the Sylvan Lawn Cemetery, Greene, New York, U.S.A.

This incident involved multiple aircraft:

  1. Anson Mk. I Serial: DG893
  2. Anson Mk. I Serial: 6479

All the aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Home
Google MapNew Westminster, British Columbia
Burial
Google MapMount Hermon Cemetery
Sec G Lot 1368Grave 12624

Anson 6479

Male Head

Civilian Beck, P ()
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1943-February-24
cemetery unknown

Flight Sergeant Spurr, Robert Harold (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1943-February-24
Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Anson DG893

Sergeant Hathaway, Francis Raymond (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1943-February-24
Sylvan Lawn Cemetery, Greene, New York, USA

Avro Anson

Avro Anson Mk. V
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Museum's Anson Mk. V was built by MacDonald Brothers in Winnipeg in 1944. It flew with No. 7 Photographic Wing and No. 414 Squadron in Ottawa on photo survey work until the late 1940s. In 1956, it was purchased by INCO and used for mineral surveying until 1980, when it was donated to the Museum. The exterior is painted in the yellow colour common to all BCATP trainers and is in its same wartime RCAF markings.

The Avro Anson was known by a number of nicknames including "Faithful Annie" or "Flying Greenhouse". It was the first aircraft to be flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force to have a retractable undercarriage, which was a comparative novelty in 1936. In 1940, a Canadian government owned company, Federal Aircraft Limited, was created in Montreal to manufacture the Anson for Canadian use. Nearly 3,000 Anson aircraft were produced and, in the early days of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), the Anson was the standard trainer for many pilots, observers (navigators), wireless operators and bomb aimers. More than 20,000 aircrew received training on the Anson. In Canadian service, the aircraft was substantially re-designed with the substitution of North American engines and many other airframe and equipment changes. Harold Skaarup web pages

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

YouTube Avro Anson History

YouTube Avro Anson Construction

last update: 2022-02-22 21:45:24

Anson Mk. I 6479

Ex RAF W2120. To No. 3 Training Command on 7 May 1941, for use by No. 8 Service Flying Training School at Moncton, NB. To No. 1 Training Command at RCAF Station Trenton on 28 May 1941. Back to No. 3 Training Command on 20 September 1943, for use by No. 8 Air Observers School at Ancienne Lorette, Quebec. Category A crash at St. Nicholas, Quebec on 24 February 1943.

1941-04-17 Taken on Strength de Havilland Canada 2019-08-20
1943-February-24 Accident: 8 Air Observer School Loc: St Nicholas Names: Beck | Hathaway | Spurr
1943-05-03 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20

Anson DG893

Anson Mk. I DG893



1942-03-09 Taken on Strength 2022-02-07
1943-February-24 Accident: 8 Air Observer School Loc: St Nicholas Names: Beck | Hathaway | Spurr
1943-05-03 Struck off Strength 2022-02-07

8 AOS (8 Air Observer School)

Air Observers were later called "navigators". For recruits in this stream, the training path after ITS was 8 weeks at an Air Observer School (AOS), 1 month at a Bombing & Gunnery School, and finally 1 month at a Navigation School. The Air Observer schools were operated by civilians under contract to the RCAF. For example, Nos. 7, 8, and 9 were run by CP Airlines. However, the instructors were RCAF. The basic navigation techniques throughout the war years were dead reckoning and visual pilotage, and the tools were the aeronautical chart, magnetic compass, watch, trip log, pencil, Douglas protractor, and Dalton Navigational Computer. They trained in the Avro Anson.

RCAF Roundel RCAF.info - RCAF Station L'Ancienne Lorrette QC

General Wartime Heritage - Orren Carey

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