Lieutenant Anthony Tracy’s Seafire Crash & Death off Calshot in 1947

On 12 December 1947, Lieutenant Anthony Peter Hanbury Tracy of the Royal Navy, was killed when the Seafire he was piloting, crashed into the Solent just off Calshot. I don’t believe his body, or the aircraft was ever recovered. He has no dedicated grave, but his name is on the Lee-on-Solent War Memorial (Bay 6, Panel 7). 

At the time of the accident, Lieutenant Anthony Tracy was 23 years old and flying with the Royal Navy’s 771 Naval Air Squadron. He’d taken off from Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus) along with other pilots flying Seafires. The port wingtip of Seafire (LA489) hit water as he was turning close to Calshot, and aircraft tumbled into the water and broke into two pieces.

Anthony Peter Hanbury Tracy was born in Lambeth, London, on 12 July 1924. His parents were Ernest Hanbury Tracy & Dorothy Ethel Tracy of West Wickham, Kent. He had enlisted as a Temporary sub- Lieutenant on 19 May 1944. 

The Bromley & West Kent Mercury reported on his death. 

Friend’s Misjudgement Ends in Air Tragedy

West Wickham Navy Flyer Crashes Into Sea

A tragic misjudgement of height on the part of a great friend is thought to have led to the death of twenty-four-year-old Lieutenant Anthony Peter Hanbury Tracy, Royal Navy, in a flying accident off Calshot on Friday He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Tracy, of 218, Pickhurst Rise, West Wickham. Lieutenant Tracy and two colleagues, all flying Seafire aircraft, took off for a routine flight from their Fleet Air Arm base at Lee-on- Solent on Friday afternoon. As they turned in formation the wing tip of Lieutenant Tracy’s machine is understood to have struck the surface of the water, which the commanding officer described as “glassy calm.” In a letter to Mrs. Tracy, this commanding officer referred to the weather conditions at the time of the accident and expressed the opinion that haze. combined with the glassy surface of the sea, might have caused the leader of the formation to misjudge the height.

A Great Friend

Doubly tragic, “continued the letter, “is that your son’s leader was a great friend of Lieutenant Tracy’s. They had flown together for a considerable time.” The officer added it was some consolation that, owing to the nature of the accident, Lieutenant Tracy must have died instantaneously. Naval salvage craft continued the search for the airman and his machine till Monday, when the operation was abandoned. Mrs. Tracy told a Mercury representative that this was the third time her son had crashed into the sea. On his first solo flight from an aircraft carrier the propeller pitch control mechanism failed, causing him to overshoot. Whilst in combat on another occasion the petrol feed pipe was severed by Japanese bullets, and he ditched in the Pacific Ocean. 

Lieutenant A. P. H. Tracy

Lieutenant Tracy joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1942 and received his commission after training in Canada. The following year he went to the Far East, where he saw 18 months’ operational flying against the Japanese. At home again for a short spell at the end of this tour he subsequently returned to the same theatre of operations on HMS. Glory. Later he was with the carrier during its goodwill mission to Austral A few months ago he was posted to the shore base at Lee-on- Solent. where he was receiving instruction prior to an appointment at the Royal Naval School of Warfare.

School Colours

Educated at Beckenham County School, Lieutenant Tracy never took the air without his scarf bearing the colours of the school. A keen member of Wickham Park Sports Club. he played soccer for the club team whenever he was on leave. He was a promising cricketer and tennis player. and was formerly a member of Beckenham Swimming Club Mr. and Mrs. Tracy are attending a memorial service at their son’s shore station today.

I found that his medals had been sold in recent years via an auction house. They included the 1939-45 Star, Burma Star, and a War Medal 1939-45, with named condolence slip.

They included these details on him.

Anthony Peter Hanbury Tracy was born at Brixton, London, on 12 July 1924. Enlisting on 5 April 1943 he was promoted Acting Sub-Lieutenant on 19 May 1944 while training in Canada. Posted to the escort carrier H.M.S. Emperor on 25 February 1945 with the East Indies Fleet, flying hellcats. When Emperor returned to Britain Tracy remained in the East, being posted to HMS Glory on 22 July 1946. Promoted Lieutenant with this unit on 19 November he was commended on 4 December 1946 for performing a successful emergency landing at ENAS Sambawang in Singapore.

Stationed at HMS. Daedalus, the Fleet Air Arm Seaplane base at Lee-On-Solent, with 771 Squadron on 27 November 1947. Tracy was killed while flying with this unit on 12 December 1947 when his Seafire LA 489 crashed into the sea off Calshot, Hampshire.

The Seafire was the naval version of a Spitfire. Click here for details of other air crashes in the Calshot area.