Aircraft accidents in Yorkshire.

Hurricane V7080 near Kirkbymoorside.

On 22nd October 1941 the pilot of this Hurricane was undertaking a cross country training exercise. As dusk began to close in and at 18.25hrs he made a wheels-up landing near Kirkbymoorside for no apparent reason, the weather was good at the time. I can only speculate that he was lost and force landed before it became dark. The pilot had gained a total of ten hours flying on Hurricanes at the time of the crash and a grand total of eight four hours flying. He survived but there was a recommendation that he was transferred to piloting bombers. This happened.

Pilot - Sgt James D Massey RCAF (R/77245), of Waterloo, Quebec, Canada. Uninjured.

The recommendation following this landing at Kirkbymoorside was followed through, the pilot later trained on bomber aircraft and was posted to 37 Squadron and sent to fly in the Middle-East. On 23rd February 1943 W/O Massey's aircraft crashed in Egypt, he was sadly killed and is listed on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.

Hurricane V7080 was built to contract 85730/40/23a by Gloster Aircraft Ltd at Hucclecote and delivered to 229 Squadron at Speke in January 1941. 229 Squadron embarked on HMS Furious for the Middle East on 10th May 1941 and it would appear V7080 was left behind as it appears on charge with 607 Squadron at Skitten in May 1941. 121 Squadron re-formed at Kirton-in-Lindsey on 14th May 1941 so V7080's stay with 607 Squadron was very short, it probably never got to Skitten being diverted to the reformed 121 Squadron instead. 121 Squadron converted to Hurricane Mk.IIB's in July 1941 and V7080 moved on to 55 OTU at Usworth. It sustained Cat.R(b)/FA damage in the incident near Kirkbymoorside on 22nd October 1941 and was repaired in works. After repair in works it was issued to 59 OTU at Crosby-on-Eden remaining with them until August 1942 when it was transferred to 56 OTU at Tealing. It was finally lost in a Cat.E2/FA accident on 11th November 1942 when it collided with Hurricane T9521 and crashed near Balado Bridge, Kinross, Scotland. Hurricane T9521 was piloted by P/O R W James and collided in mid-air during a formation-flying practice with the Hurricane V7080 piloted by Sgt N J H Carter; both pilots sadly being killed. Parts of V7080 were found at the crash site by Mr Ken Ward some years ago and are now held in his collection in Bilsdale, North Yorkshire.