Jodel D.120 G-ATGX near Wombleton.

On Monday, 3rd January 1966 this aircraft took off from Crosby on Eden airfield near Carlisle at 12.17hrs with the pilot and his daughter as a passenger for a cross country flight to Wombleton so that they could visit family in nearby Helmsley. The aircraft was then flown across to Wombleton in around an hour and the pilot flew a very low pass of the airfield to assess the suitability for a landing on one of the overgrown runways. The aircraft flew over the airfield at around fifty feet above the ground and without climbing the pilot then put the aircraft into a banked turn. He then lost control of the aircraft, there was no room for error and it crashed at 13.20hrs just off the old airfield site near Wombleton Grange Farm. The aircraft broke up, the pilot was killed but his passenger survived but with serious injuries and was taken to hospital in York. The pilot's cousin, Miss Mary Banes (or Vanes), of Helmsley, was waiting for them to land and witnessed the accident. An investigation later concluded that the height at which the aircraft was flown and the tun was then made left the pilot with no room for error should a problem occur. At that height the use of the flying controls had to be very precise and this was above the level of his skill and experience.

The aircraft was built in France by Wassmer Aviation where it was first registered as F-BIXQ in November 1958. It was then transferred to the UK in July 1965 and was registered as G-ATGX after some modifications were made. Mr Watson bought the aircraft in September 1965.

Pilot - Mr Thomas Raymond Watson, aged 42, of Crosby, Maryport, Cumberland. Burial location unknown.

Passenger - Miss Shirley Watson, aged 11. Injured.