Oxford Mk.I HN429 of 11 (P)AFU RAF crashed on Axe Edge on 3rd November 1944 while on a Beam Approach training flight from Cranage. 

On the 3rd November 1944 the crew of three boarded (including an instructor) HN429 for a Beam Approach training exercise from RAF Cranage in Cheshire where No.1531 Beam Approach Training Flight were stationed. Though this unit was itself a semi-autonomous detachment of No.11 (P)AFU from Calveley. At around 10:00am the trainee pilot lost his way and while trying to correct his error struck the gentle slope on the northern side of Axe Edge. The aircraft must have had a very gentle crash (if such an event can be gentle) as on the the aircraft wooden propellers was recovered by a member of the mountain rescue team from the RAF station at Harpur Hill, this was later donated to the now defunct Macclesfield Historical Aviation Society.  The propeller is almost undamaged and in a more severe crash these tend to shatter.

All three men survived the war, having been reported to have virtually walked away from the accident. Though in the records of No.11 (P)AFU it is clear that all three suffered varying degrees of injury with Mullen having his right foot amputated as a result of the damage caused by the crash, he was eventually retired from the Royal Canadian Air Force on medical grounds in July 1945.

One of the large steel brackets used to hold the wooden spars together with one of the undercarriage mounting brackets still attached.

A second undercarriage bracket can be found at the site.

The crash site in December 2001

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