Oxford Mk.I HN429 of No.11 (P)AFU RAF crashed on Axe Edge on 3rd November 1944

 

Charles Victor Mayhead	Flying Officer	Pilot (Instructor)	Injured
Albert Craig Mullen	Flying Officer RCAF	Pilot (Student)	Injured
John Stewart Bean	Flying Officer RCAF	Observer	Injured

 

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 one the the aircraft’s 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, normally during a crash these tended 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.