Blackburn Monoplane near Old Malton.
On 25th July 1912 a fete held by Malton Hospital on the showfield on Pasture Lane in the town. The fete was well
documented in the local newspapers of the time and was probably a fairly large gathering. The weather in the morning
of the fete was poor but as it improved in the afternoon a flying display was given by the pilot of an aircraft who
had flown it in from the establishment at Filey. On one of the flights the pilot lost control and although it went into
a dive for sometime he managed to pull out of it and force landed in a wheat field near Old Malton. The aircraft ran
in the crop for a short while but overturned after the crop wrapped itself around the undercarriage. The pilot
escaped injury but the aircraft was slightly damaged.
Pilot - Mr Jack Brereton, of Filey. Uninjured.
Jack Brereton and Mr Robert Blackburn with the aircraft at Malton prior to this incident.
This photograph is believed to have appeared in the Northern Echo at the time of the
incident. This was Mr Brereton's second incident in the Malton area in two months, which it maybe
recalled, he was the pilot of a Blackburn Mercury which force landed twice in a day at the Norton side of the river in May 1912.
I grew up in Malton and know the area well. Given the location of the fete was almost
certainly the field used to hold the Malton Show in modern times and the display would
have been carried out near this field. The local press stated the aircraft crashed near
Old Malton but it seems likely the aircraft crashed somewhere in the area where the
Peasey Hills estate would later be built. This is between the showfield and Old Malton
and I understand was fields in 1912. The hospital was not where it is currently located
today, off Middlecave Road, but on a site now occupied by flats opposite the cemetery gates.
After the hospital moved the premises became the centre for the British Legion before
being pulled down and the flats being erected. I would like to thank Mr Mike Inkley for
his assistance in this research.
