On 23rd January 1961 the crew of two flying this No.1 Flying Training School aircraft took off from Linton on Ouse airfield to undertake a training flight. On board was an instructor and a pupil. The flight took them over the Pennines when, twenty minutes into the flight and whilst flying 27,000ft, the instructor put the aircraft into a practice spin to the right to then demonstrate recovery from the spin. After four turns he attempted to pull out of the spin but was unable to, further emergency action was taken without effect and the instructor warned the pupil that he would have to eject and jettisoned the canopy. The pupil ejected at 16,000ft over Wassett Fell, and after the instructor had again attempted recovery action without any result he too ejected also over Wassett Fell. The aircraft continued in a wide turn after the crew had left it, it over-flew Newbiggin and circled over Thoralby before turning back towards Newbiggin in a descending turn. The aircraft struck a hillside at 15.35hrs flying in reasonably level flight near Newbiggin. Its wing struck towards the top of the highest field out of the valley, the aircraft then broke up across the snow-covered field and across the fellside above with the engine breaking free and travelling some distance up hill. The two pilots both sustained minor injuries on landing on frozen ground the road on the Kettlewell side of Newbiggin the valley, they were located by local people and taken to the Street Head Inn and would later be taken to hospital.
In April 2013 I met with the instructor's family, they understood that there had been a problem with this aircraft prior to this date when it was put into a spin and that F/Lt Richards had been tasked by his commanding officer to take the aircraft up and to check out the problem. The Vampire then became stuck in the spin and the crew had to eject. F/Lt Richards' logbook gives some extra information in that he had taken up Wilkins for his first flight on 16th January 1961 and then had flown with him again the following day. On the day of the crash both men had flown together for an hour in XE882 prior to setting out for the flight where they had to eject.
The RAF investigation into why the aircraft could not be recovered from the spin was inconclusive, one possibility was that a loose control cable to the tail was to blame. It also suggested that this aircraft should not have been used for this type of flight and that the flight and manoeuvre was not properly authorised. This does also suggest that the what the pilot's family recall could be correct, in that if the commanding officer had informally asked the instructor to do as was stated above but the aircraft was not cleared to be used for this. More information is needed to fully record why the aircraft could not be pulled out of the spin but it does seem to suggest that a known fault with the aircraft was to blame.
Instructor Pilot - F/Lt Gilbert Richards AFC RAF (149955). Slightly injured.
Pupil Pilot - Lt Michael John Moyse Wilkin RN. Slightly injured. (probable identity).
In July 1945 he was posted to the Central Gunnery School (CGS) at Catfoss, Yorkshire where he served briefly until a brief posting to 111 Squadron and 11 FIS. In May 1946 he was de-mobbed. I understand from his family that higher ranked members of the RAF suggested to him that he change his name to a more English sounding Gilbert Richards which he duly did. He served in the RAF Reserve until he resigned his commission as F/Lt in the RAFVR and was then appointed to a commission in the RAF on 29th January 1951 to the rank of F/O (seniority back dated to 8th February 1949). After a undertaking re-fresher course he was posted to the Central Flying School at South Cerney in May 1951 and he then resumed a career in flying instructional duties at a number of training schools. He was awarded the Air Force Cross while in the rank of F/Lt on 1st January 1955, this AFC is believed to have been awarded for his success in obtaining a high pass rate for the number of pupils through his instruction over many years. In late 1960 he was posted to 1 FTS at Linton on Ouse to instruct pupils in flying the Vampire type and it was whilst at this unit that the incident at Newbiggin occured in January 1961. Following this incident he was grounded until June 1961 until it was ruled that he was not to blame. He remained at 1 FTS at Linton on Ouse until June 1964 when he took a posting to Manchester University Air Squadron based at Woodvale. He remained with Manchester UAS until September 1969 and after a time at 7 Air Experience Flight (AEF) at Newton on Trent (training cadets) he served as a Phantom simulator instructor at Conningsby. He reached the rank S/Ldr by the time he retired from the RAF for the first time on 11th December 1975. He then later re-joined the Reserve of Officers on 14th March 1978 and finally retired in 1982. He gave a remarkable period of long service to his country.
Gilbert Richards' fine medal set with the Air Force Cross shown on the left.
In September 2009 a party of aviation historians of which I was part shared a weekend in the Wensleydale area. Upon speaking to a number of farmers in the Newbiggin area we found a witness to this incident. Mr James Musgrave, of Town Head Farm, was gathering sheep on the moorland at the time when this aircraft crashed below him. Sadly burning fuel was thrown over a number of sheep after the impact and many of these either died or had to put down. Mr Musgrave recounted to myself and Ken Reast that in the region of 200 military personnel spent some days at the crash site and picked up virtually every piece of the aircraft. In the years since the incident the small crater had grassed over. No wreckage was found during my visit in 2009. I believe that this was the first time in modern years that anyone has either attempted to search for or locate the crash site. I thank Mr Musgrave for his time and information he was able to give. In April 2013 I visited the site with Gilbert Richards' son Terry Richards and his wider family. We visited the crash site with Mr Musgrave and I thank them for an enjoyable day.
The instructor was born as Gilbert Ricardo in December 1920, he joined the RAF in 1940 or early 1941 and undertook his basic pilot training as an RAF cadet with the USAAC at Camden, South Carolina on Steerman aircraft begining in August 1941. He then trained at Macon and Selma (Craig Field) in Alabama before posting back to the UK to train at 5 (P)AFU in Summer 1942. He completed his fighter pilot training at 52 OTU at Aston Down in November 1942 and was posted to 131 Squadron on 17th November 1942 with whom he remained until the end of 1943. While with 131 Squadron he flew Spitfires from various airfields around the UK including Convoy Patrols for which he gained the Atlantic Clasp shown on his medal set (pictured below). In May 1943 he was carrying out trial desk-landings on HMS Argus in Seafires. After his time with 131 Squadron he was selected for instructor training and was posted to No.1 Flying Instructor School (FIS) at Lulsgate, Bristol in January 1944, he later served with 73 OTU in North Africa until the end of the War. He received his commission on 5th July 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) rising to F/O on probation (war subs) on 5th January 1944 and F/Lt (war subs) on 5th January 1945.
The identity of the pupil was given in press reports as "M J N Wilkins" and on the RAF accident record card as "N J N Wilkins". In Gilbert Richards flying logbook he records his pupil's name as being "Wilkin" not "Wilkins", by searching the London Gazette for Wilkin's a probable identity for him is Michael John Moyse Wilkin. At the time of last updating this webpage I think he must be the pupil. Michael Wilkin was born in the Freebridge Lynn district of Norfolk in 1938 and perhaps more relevant to him being our man was that he married in the Claro district of Yorkshire in 1961 - Claro was the ajoining registration District to where Linton on Ouse is - so he was in this part of Yorkshire in the same year as the accident at Newbiggin. Michael John Moyse Wilkin rose from the rank of Acting Sub Lt to Sub Lt on 1st January 1959. He was awarded the MBE, Gazetted on 12th June 1965, but the details surrounding this award are not yet known. He later rose from Lt to Lt-Cdr on 1st November 1968 and to Cdr on 30th June 1973 (Seaman Specialisation). He was the commanding officer of HMS Zulu in 1977. He rose from Cdr to the rank of Captain on 31st December 1982. He may well still be living and if he or his family spot this webpage I would love to hear from them.
