Blackburn B2 G-ABWI near Ellerton.
On 9th October 1936 this aircraft was being flown on a flight around the general Brough area when it crashed just north of Ellerton, between Selby and Pocklington. On impact the aircraft burst into flames with the pilot was almost certain being killed in the crash. Villagers attempted to pull him clear but the intense heat forced them back. I believe that the pilot was undertaking training at No.4 Elementary and Reserve Training School who were based at Brough but the aircraft appears to have been owned and run by the The North Sea Aerial and General Transport Ltd who were also at Brough. As a result the aircraft was a civilian registered aircraft. The pilot's obituary was published in local newspapers and that states he had served in the RAF Reserve.
This aircraft was first registered on the British civilian register on 30th April 1932 as G-ABWI to Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Co Ltd, at Brough. It was used in the 1932 King's Cup air race, being flown by F/O Philip E G Sayer who finished 22nd. It was then re-registered to North Sea Aerial & General Transport Ltd, also at Brough on 27th March 1933. It was written off as a result of this accident near Ellerton on 9th October 1936 though it took until 2nd December 1936 for it to be recorded as destroyed and permanent withdrawl from use on the paperwork.
Pilot - Sgt Algernon Hinchliffe Simpson RAF (S.No.?), aged 23, of Osgodby Grange, Selby, Yorkshire. Buried Hemingbrough Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Algernon Simpson (or Algy) was the third son of Thomas Hessel and Alice Mary (nee Ward) Simpson, of Osgodby Grange, Osgodby near Selby, Yorkshire. He had served in the RAF Reserve for some three years prior to his death. One of his younger brothers, Sgt Gerald Anthony Simpson RAFVR (655086) was killed on 27th / 28th April 1942 serving with 76 Squadron when Halifax W1017 failed to return from an operational flight to bomb a target near Dunkirk. He is buried in Dunkirk Town Cemetery.