On the 20th June 1951 this 66 Squadron aircraft took from Linton-on-Ouse just before 11.30hrs for an aerobatic exercise and then to practice Ground Controlled Approaches (CGA) to Linton on Ouse airfield. Half an hour after take-off this aircraft was flying in the Scarborough area, towards the town from the Harwood Dale direction, when the aircraft's undercarriage up-locks failed and the undercarriage extended down. The resulting stress load was too much and the aircraft broke up in mid-flight. The aircraft crashed in fields north west of Scalby, near Beacon Farm, sadly killing the pilot instantly, his watch stopping at 11.50hrs. Mr Welburn of Silpho Brow Farm was working in nearby fields when he saw the aircraft break up overhead and crash in fields near to him. The owner of Beacon Farm had been working in the fields where the aircraft had crashed but he gone back to the farm for an early lunch, had he been in the fields the aircraft would almost certainly have struck him. Mr Welburn's then fiancee was heading back to the farm later in the day and was initially stopped from going her normal way home because of the crash and the police closing the lane. She was eventually allowed through to go home and passed the main crash site near the track over to the farm from Coomboots. Wreckage was spread over a number of fields either side of this track however a wing section and the main aircraft fuselage came to earth fairly close to one another on the slopes below Beacon Brow. The tail of the aircraft is thought to have landed some distance away. Following investigation of the wreckage it was thought that the Meteor broke up in flight due to a ""positive "g" being applied"".
Meteor WA877 was built to contract 6/ACFT/2983 by the Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd at Hucclecote and was delivered to the RAF on 19th February 1951. After acceptance it was issued to 66 Squadron at Linton on Ouse on an unknown date. It sustained Cat.E2/FA damage as a result of the accident on 20th June 1951.
Pilot - Sgt John Anstee Martin RAF (3504636), aged 21, of West Norwood, (Westminster), London. Buried Newton on Ouse Churchyard, Yorkshire (grave RAF8).
John Martin was born on 12th October 1929. He gained his Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert No. 26229) at 7 F.T.S. on 14th November 1949.
My thanks to Mr and Mrs Clifford Welburn, formerly of Silpho Brow Farm, for a worthwhile afternoon recollecting their memories of this incident to me in April 2006, without which much of the above would not be as complete.