Unidentified Atlas near Little Fencote.
On 19th November 1930 this 26 Squadron aircraft was being flown in the general area of the crew's base at Catterick when it was seen circling in mist around two miles south of Catterick aerodrome with smoke coming from it. It was thought that the pilot was trying force land the aircraft in a field between Little Fencote and the A1 Great North Road when it crashed. The aircraft broke up in the crash around three hundred yards from the A1 with the bulk of the wreckage catching fire. One member of the crew was thrown out as it crashed and survived but the other member of the crew died. The wreckage caught fire with the survivor being located just outside of the fire by Miss Edith Bartram, of Holtby Cottage and with help from several staff of the Bedale Hunt who were nearby, he was pulled clear of the wreckage. They were able to put out the fire from around the pilot who was trapped in the wreckage though he had died in the crash.
Pilot - P/O John Anthony Chance RAF (156231), aged 21. Buried St.Nicholas' Churchyard, Radford Semele, Warwickshire.
Passenger - Sgt Adam Maitland RAF (S.No.?), aged 26. Injured.
John Chance was born on 23rd June 1909 in Marylebone, London and was the second son of Kenneth Macomb and Muriel Chance. Kenneth Chance was Chairman and Managing Director of British Industrial Plastics Ltd. John was known to his family as 'Toots' and studied at Eton College. Having trained at RAF College Cranwell John Chance was granted a permanent commission in the RAF as P/O on 26th July 1930. The John Anthony Chance Memorial Prize was donated in his memory but I have been unable to establish if this is still awarded.
Adam Maitland was born on 6th November 1901 at Dundee. He later recovered from his injuries sustained near Catterick in November 1930 to some extent but would appear to have left the RAF. He became a director of the Arrow Aircraft (Leeds) Ltd, of Little Russell Street, Leeds by 1932. He was awarded a Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.10408) after training at the Yorkshire Aero Club on 13th March 1932. The Arrow Aircraft (Leeds) Ltd company was owned by Arthur Cecil Thompson who had worked for Blackburn aircraft and designed the Bluebird IV. He left Blackburn and set up Arrow in 1930. Arrow designed and manufactured just two aircraft in the early 1930s. The Arrow Active 1 G-ABIX was flown in the King's Cup Air Race in 1932 but was damaged following a fire and crash in 1935 and the pilot and owner, Alex Henshaw, left by parachute. The other Active 2 G-ABVE was flown in the King's Cup Air Races of 1932 and 1933, it was rebuilt in 1958 and 1989 and it still flying. These two Arrow aircraft were prototypes and no other orders followed. The company ran until 1951 manufacturing aircraft components in a building at Yeadon airfield. He died in Bury St.Edmunds in 1978.