Percival Proctor G-ALUJ.
On the 10th of February 1960 the pilot and the owner of this Percival Proctor was making a flight from Yeadon to Newcastle (Woolsington) airfield. he left
Yeadon on business and headed north but mid-flight he received a weather report stating it was poor. He asked permission to land in the Newcastle area
but not at Woolsington, this did not happen. 55 minutes into the flight he advised Newcastle ATC that he was returning to Yeadon
because of low cloud in the Newcastle area. Some time later the aircraft was found crashed onto the western lower slopes of Roseberry Topping which were shrouded in mist,
to the north-west of Great Ayton and 20 miles east of the intended flight path back to Yeadon. The aircrafts tail section was reportedly
found a slight distance from the main crash site in trees by the main road to Newton under Roseberry. The rest of the aircraft was found in pine trees in Newton Wood
and had damaged the tops of some trees during the crash. Sadly the pilot was killed in the crash.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/498 by F. Hills & Sons in Manchester and delivered to the RAF in March 1942 and took the registation DX198.
After acceptance it was issued to 4 Signal School at Madley on an unspecified date in 1942. 4 SS was renamed 4 RS (Radio School)
on 18th June 1943 and the aircraft continued to serve at Madley. It was transferred to the MCS (Metropolitan Communications Sqdn) at
Hendon some time after the 8th April 1944. It was later declared surplus to requirements and on 11th October 1944 it was going to
be trasferred to the civil register as G-AGLC but this registration was not taken up and the aircraft remained with MCS at Hendon.
MCS was renamed 31 Squadron on 19th July 1948 and remained at Hendon and was coded "VS-D". The aircraft was eventually declared surplus to requirements
and was sold on 28th July 1949 becoming G-ALUJ.
On 31st October 1953 it was sold to a new owner in France and registered F-DADK but it soon returned to the UK on 29th December 1955
and it's registration G-ALUJ was restored. It was destroyed in the accident detailed above.
Pilot - Mr John Michael Stockdale Proctor, aged 34, of Rawden, Yorkshire.
Michael Proctor had only been elected as chairman of the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club committee three days prior to his death, he had learnt to
fly at Sherburn in Elmet with the Club in 1954 and was also a member of the Yeadon Aero Club, as well as being an instructor to the Yorkshire
Territorial Flying Group and an assistant instructor with the Yorkshire Flying Services.
Thanks to Mr Ken Luck and Mr T Kirby for recounting their memories of this incident to me.