This aircraft flew into high ground just before 16.00hrs on Whorlton Moor on 27th August 1955 having taken off only ten minutes previously from Church Fenton airfield, the pilot was to have undertaken an airtest of the aircraft. The North Yorkshire Moors had cloud covering them on this day and the pilot could not see the rising ground he was flying towards, he was killed in the crash . Helicopters of 275 Squadron based at Thornaby were prevented from searching for the missing aircraft on the day of the crash due to low cloud but the following day a party on foot located the site. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area. The aircraft was identified by part of a wing and the ejection seat, both of which had the aircraft's serial number printed on them. The pilot was later identified by a watch found at the scene engraved with his name.

Meteor WH249 was built to contract 6/ACFT/5621 by the Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd and delivered to the RAF on 3rd September 1951. After acceptance it was issued to 19 Squadron at Church Fenton on an as yet unspecified date. For a period the aircraft was transferered to DFLS (Day Fighter Leaders School) at West Raynham before returning to 19 Squadron back at Church Fenton. It was written off following the incident detailed above sustaining Cat.5(s)/FA damage.

Pilot - F/O Peter Charles Kenrick RAF (2224186), aged 28, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Buried Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Peter Kenrick and his headstone at Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was born on 2nd November 1926 in Mansfield and was granted a short service commission on 20th December 1951 to serve on the active list for eight years followed by four in the Reserve. He took the rank of Acting P/O on probation from the rank of Cadet Pilot but the service date was back-dated to 4th July 1951 (which is when he is believed to have been interviewed for officer training). He was confirmed in the rank of P/O on 6th September 1952 and rose to F/O on 4th February 1955.

His brother, Michael Ernest Kenrick, also joined the RAF on the same date as his brother and was given his initial interview on the same day. Both received their back-dated commissions on the same date. Mick Kenrick remained in the RAF until 1990 reaching the rank of Squadron Leader. He died in March 2011. I thank Mr Paul Kenrick, son of Michael Kenrick, for contacting me in March 2011 and kindly supplying much of this background information and for the photograph of Peter Kenrick and without which this account would not be as full.

John Skinn and myself located the crash site in March 2003, after an extensive search we only found what we thought to be a pressure switch on a small area of dead ground (shown below).

I returned to the area in October 2004 and carried out another search in a different area, this search yielded more results than the first. Of the interesting finds was the aircraft's Mach dial from the instrument panel in the cockpit and peices of the airframe baring Gloster part numbers.