Smale, William Herbert Frederick
Killed in Flying Accident 1942-09-15
Birth Date: 1923
Born:
William Stuart Smale & Eliza Blanche Maude Smale, Osterley, Middlesex, England.
Home:
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RAFVR
Unit
9 AOS- Air Observer School
Base
RCAF Stn. St Jean, Quebec
Rank
Leading Aircraftman
Position
Leading Aircraftman
Service Numbers
1318392
First Burial
St James Cemetery, St Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.com
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)This incident involved multiple aircraft:
- Anson Mk. I Serial: 6554
All the above aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.
Anson 6554
Avro Anson
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
Harold A Skaarup Web Page 
Avro Anson History9 AOS (9 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.info - RCAF Station St Jean QC Anson 6554
Anson Mk. I 6554
Ex RAF W2298. To No. 1 Training Command on 6 June 1941. To No. 3 Training Command later in 1941, for use by No. 8 Air Observers School at Ancienne Lorette, Quebec. Crashed into the St. Lawrence River at Lake St. Francis near Cornwall, Ontario on 15 September 1942. All 3 occupants killed. Records state pilot misjudged height and settled into the water, suggesting probably unauthorized low flying.1941-05-10 Taken on Strength de Havilland Canada 2020-10-05
1942-September-15 Accident: 9 Air Observer School Loc: Cornwall Names: Cook | Dehavilland | Fraser | Smale
1942-12-23 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20