What happened
The incident occurred during a night training exercise involving an Anson. While in flight, the aircraft experienced a loss of power when both engines failed due to fuel exhaustion. At the time of the failure, visibility was significantly reduced by darkness and cloud cover. The crew attempted to determine their exact position but were unable to do so effectively under these conditions.
Recognizing that they could not safely continue or land, the two pilots decided to abandon the aircraft. They successfully bailed out before the plane impacted the ground. The wreckage came to rest in a field near Castle Cary, Somerset, where it was destroyed upon impact. Despite the total loss of the airframe, both crew members survived the ejection and were reported as uninjured.
Findings
The official investigation concluded that the primary sequence of events began with the crew losing spatial orientation due to poor visibility conditions. This disorientation contributed to the situation where the aircraft eventually suffered a total loss of power resulting from fuel exhaustion, leading to the emergency ejection.