Kinder Scout (2) Avro Anson Memorial

On 11 December 1944, Avro Anson N9853 of No. 16 Flying Training School took off from RAF Newton near Nottingham on a training flight to RAF Millom in Cumbria. The aircraft was crewed by members of the Polish Air Force under RAF command. Flight Lieutenant Aleksander Chelstowski, an experienced Polish pilot, immediately became lost in low cloud after departure. Knowing the Peak District lay between Nottingham and his destination, Chelstowski descended below the cloud to obtain a visual fix, but had not expected to have travelled so far west. The aircraft struck the snow-covered moor on Edale Moor, Kinder Scout. Remarkably, all crew survived the crash with only minor injuries. They were led off the hill and transferred to the RAF Hospital at Wilmslow for treatment before being returned to Newton. The subsequent inquiry found Chelstowski guilty of gross negligence, and his commanding officer recommended he never fly again. Despite this, Chelstowski went on to have a very distinguished remainder of the war and was decorated four times. In 1955, after a request from the newly formed Peak District National Park, an RAF recovery team visited the crash site and others on Kinder to clean up wreckage, though engine and panel remains are still visible today.