Mosquito FB.VI HJ731 near Hornby.

Little is known about this incident other than the basic information that on 31st January 1946 this No.13 Operational Training Unit aircraft suffered the starbaord engine catching fire on a training flight. It was seen flying very low and on fire by people on Catterick airfield just prior to it crashing near the village of Hornby soon after. Unfortunately the aircraft was completely destroyed in the crash and the pilot killed. An Italian still in the UK after the war first raised the alarm following the crash and a rescue party of RCAF airmen from Leeming were first to arrive. The pilot was part of Course 132 held by 13 O.T.U. Whether the pilot was using the unit's main airfield of Middleton St.George or their satellite of Croft for the exercise is unknown, Croft is quoted in newspapers as where the aircraft had come from.

Pilot - F/O Stanley McInytre Blackhall RAFVR (167252), aged 21. Buried Edinburgh (Corstorphine Hill) Cemetery (F.595).