On 11th September 1954 the pilot of this No.4 Flying Training School aircraft was briefed to carry out aerobatic training prior to a Battle of Britain commemoration display that was planned to be held four days later. The aerobatics were to have been flown over the airfield at Middleton St.George at a height over 1,500 feet. The pilot taxied to the take off point and requested permission to take off and to then undertake two slow rolls over the airfield prior to another aircraft taking off. The airfield's Air Traffic Controller refused permission for this to be carried out over the airfield but the pilot did not acknowledge this request. He then went on to take off at 08.10hrs. It was likely that he did not receive this message rather than disobeyed orders because after taking off he climbed to 800 feet, then turned and came back over the airfield three minutes after taking off. At 1500 feet it flew along the runway in use and made a slow roll while also diving at around forty five degrees. The aircraft came out of the roll and the pilot put the aircraft back into level flight. The nose then dropped, it did not change path or angle and struck the ground in a 45 degree dive with the starboard wing slightly low in a field between Over Dinsdale and Girsby, cartwheeled and broke up. The pilot was killed instantly. The exact cause of the accident was never fully proven though it was thought the aircraft may have stalled after coming out of the roll. Two months later VT232 crashed a few hundred yards away
Pilot - P/O John Cartner RAF (2600699), aged 24. Buried Haverigg Cemetery, Millom, Cumbria.
John Cartner's grave at Haverigg.