On 5th October 1951 this 203 Advanced Flying School aircraft was one of three being flown on a formation flying exercise. Part of the exercise was carried out at 11,000 feet over the Scarborough area. With that part of the exercise complete they then descended down to what had intended to have been 800 feet in formation. They encountered sea fog and in poor visibility the aircraft flew off the Yorkshire coast. The three aircraft were then heading west and back toward land when they neared Bempton cliffs but were well below the 800 feet height. The formation's lead aircraft would have been flying slightly higher than the two formating aircraft behind it so when the cliffs came into view directly ahead of the lead pilot, F/Sgt John Albert Sidney D'Avoine, he put his aircraft into a sharp climb and avoided the cliffs. The two following aircraft were slightly lower than the lead and for them there was not enough time or space to avoid hitting the cliffs. They flew into the chalk cliffs at between 150 and 200 feet up from sea level. The pilots of both Meteor VW301 and VT307 were killed instantly. The lead aircraft circled the area for some time before landing normally at Driffield. The body of the pilot of VW301 was found a short time later but it took some days to locate the body of VT307's pilot.
(VW301) Pilot - P/O Donald William Quinton RAF (3503138). Aged 22. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Photographing the cliffs from the top is not easy and the aircraft may not have crashed in the area shown here but it gives an idea of how high the cliffs are in this general location.
Donald Quinton was from Banstead, Surrey and as a child attended Sutton County Grammar School. He was buried at Driffield Cemetery.