The mid-air collision of two Avro Ansons on a training flight from No. 2 Service Flying Training ...

The mid-air collision of two Avro Ansons on a training flight from No. 2 Service Flying Training School (2SFTS) based at Wagga Wagga, resulted in this dramatic and successful crash landing. After the collision the two aircraft remained firmly locked together and continued to fly; the trainee pilot in the upper Anson (N4876), Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Leonard Graham Fuller, remained at the controls while his navigator 402066 LAC I M Sinclair and both crew members of the lower aircraft 402056 LAC J I Hewson and 402051 LAC H G Fraser, all parachuted to safety. LAC Fuller found he could control the pair using the flying controls of his aircraft and the power from the one engine still operating in lower Anson (L9162). He successfully crash landed the two aircraft in a paddock near Brocklesby in southern New South Wales. Fuller saw overseas service with No 37 Squadron RAF and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) for operational flying over Palermo, Italy, and was also commissioned. Flying Officer Fuller returned to Australia to be an instructor at No 1 Operational Training Unit 1OTU) at Sale, Victoria, and was killed in an accident on 18 March 1944 riding a bicycle near 1OTU.