Meteor F.8 WA822 near Coxwold.
During the morning of Tuesday, 9th September 1952 the pilot of this 66 Squadron aircraft was part of a formation of six aircraft that took off from Linton on Ouse at 09.45hrs. Shortly after taking off the aircraft entered cloud and when the rest of the formation came out of cloud at 13,000 feet this aircraft did not emerge, contact with the pilot was also lost. The aircraft was then seen to dive into the ground at a steep angle and crash near Fox Foot Farm, Coxwold killing the pilot five minutes after taking off. Wreckage was spread over a wide area with an engine ending up in a deep ditch and not far from the nearby railway line. Low cloud and heavy rain was reported in the area at the time. Helmsley Fire Brigade were called to attend this incident, whilst their tender was leaving the town, the trailer pump detached itself from the engine and crashed through the bridge parapet over the River Rye. The probable cause of the Meteor crashing was put at the pilot losing control of the aircraft whilst flying in cloud using his instruments.
Pilot - P/O Colin Petty RAF (578727), aged 26. Buried Newton on Ouse Churchyard, Yorkshire (grave LGA, 11).
Colin Petty was born in Hull on 12th January 1926 and attended Hull Grammar School as a boy, he was known as "Jerry". He joined the RAF at the age of sixteen to serve in the ground trades and had initially served as a fitter. He later volunteered to switch to become a pilot. Many months after his death the London Gazette stated that he had been appointed to a permanent commission in the RAF to the rank of P/O on 22nd February 1954 but with his period of service to count from 15th September 1950 and this may be the date he gained his Pilot's Wings. He married Maureen Milsom in Withernsea in 1948, he also left a young daughter and his wife was pregnant with a second daughter. His wife appears to have re-married in the late 1950s in the Withernsea area.
