Slingsby T.50 Skylark BGA.1069 glider near Easingwold.
On Friday, 6th May 1966 the pilot of this glider was carrying out a local flight when the glider entered a cumulo-nimbus cloud which was obscured by a continuous sheet of medium cloud. The glider sustained a lightning strike which either melted or vapourised the aileron cables and caused the wing centre section to disintergrate. The pilot fell out of the glider and while he was wearing a parachute he did not deploy it and was killed. It was thought that he had delayed the operation of his parachute until he had fallen below the cloud to avoid the possibility of being carried up in an up-draft, but that the rain then coming up toward him may have disorientated him as he fell and also made visibility difficult. Exactly where this glider crashed is not known other than it was in the Easingwold area and within the Bulmer death registration district.
Pilot - Mr Peter Hill. Aged 40. Burial location unknown.