At 19.22hrs on 15th December 1954 this No.8 Flying Training School aircraft took off from Driffield airfield with an instructor flying with a pupil pilot and were due to undertake a night training flight involving flying at high speed at altitude and then make a controlled descent. The runway in use at Driffield was the one that saw it take off in the direction of Kirkburn village, which is at a slightly higher altitude than the airfield. It left the ground normally but then did not continue climb away as expected to gain height, instead it flew at low level and at high speed toward the village. A minute after taking off it cleared the village then ploughed into the tops of trees at the edge of a small wood between Kirkburn and Bainton. It was descending slightly at the time of impact and the aircraft was totally destroyed in the crash. Both airmen were killed.
An investigation into the accident followed but the total destruction of the aircraft prevented the readings and setting of various controls and instruments being taken. The crash speed was thought to have been at around 300 knots which signified that the engines were running at full power. This suggested that the pilot probably thought he was making a full power climb after taking off rather than knowingly flying level. The assumption was made that the flying instruments may have been faulty that prevented him from realising he was not climbing, with a possible faulty artificial horizon.
Instructor Pilot - F/Lt Alan George Whitbread RAF (167908), aged 30. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Pupil Pilot - F/O John Michael Harrison RAF (2600617), aged 22. Buried Denton Cemetery, Manchester.
Alan Whitbread's grave at Driffield.
John Harrison was from Romiley, near Stockport.
Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast attended a search of the woodland to confirm the crash location with permission from the landowner in December 2000. Small fragments of the aircraft were found throughout the wood with the items shown here being items retained by Eric. The item below contains a typical Meteor part number.
