This 19 Squadron 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 the area 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. Newspaper reports on the incident stated that 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 and the pilot was later identified by a watch found at the scene engraved with his name. The aircraft appears to have been heading north to south prior to the crash and by following the surface wreckage trail even 65 years later that can be confirmed.

Meteor WH249 was built to contract 6/ACFT/5621 by the Gloster Aircraft Company Ltd and was delivered to the RAF on 3rd September 1951. After acceptance it was issued to 19 Squadron at Church Fenton on an unknown date. For a period the aircraft was transferred to D.F.L.S. (Day Fighter Leaders School) at West Raynham before returning to 19 Squadron at Church Fenton. It was written off following the incident on 27th August 1944 sustaining Cat.5(s)/FA damage.

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

Peter Kenrick and his headstone at Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was born on 2nd November 1926 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and was the son of Ernest and Elsie (nee Ashmore) Kenrick. He 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. He may also have been at the same No.7 FTS at the time his brother died. 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 (left) of Peter Kenrick and without which this account would not be as full. I also thank Mr David Hutchinson for contacting me in December 2013 and for kindly supplying the portrait photograph (right) of Peter Kenrick; the Kenrick and Hutchinson families were friends in the 1950s.

John Skinn and I located the crash site in March 2003 in very deep heather and after an extensive search we only one small item (shown below). I returned in 2004, 2009 and 2014 when these two photographs of the general area of the site were taken. On the anniversary of the accident in 2020 during a break in lockdown happenings Mark Sheldon, David Thompson and I carried out a full survey of surface wreckage, photographing and plotting it by gps. The aircraft's initial impact appears to have been some distance back along the line of flight from where the main collection of parts remain. Further small fragments were found some half a kilometre beyond the main collection of wreckage. It's probably fair to state that the aircraft broke up over a considerable area.

The first find in 2003 was this item, believed to be some form of pressure switch.

I returned to the area in October 2004 after the heather had been burnt off by gamekeepers and carried out another search for the crash site, 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.

A blade from one of the aircraft's jet engines found in 2004.

Two of the part numbers found on items at the site. The smaller number in the oval and circle with the "G" prefix refers to the Gloster factory.

The inside element of a flying instrument.

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