Jodel Mascaret G-ASPG.
On 10th June 1966 a London business man, working for Bristol Siddeley Engines, had flown up to Sunderland from Redhill in a Jodel Mascaret, he was to visit a factory making component parts for his company's engine assembly lines in Bristol and Coventry. The outbound flight went well, the weather was fine and he completed his meeting. He left Sunderland for the return trip around 15.30hrs and headed south. Around 30-45 minutes into the flight and while flying at around 5000 feet the aircraft's single engine cut out without warning and would not restart. Left with no option but to try and land the aircraft he headed for a relatively flat part of moorland on Urra Moor, south of Ingleby Greenhow and landed on the rough heather. Up to now no serious damage had been caused but as the aircraft slowed down a rock penetrated a port wing fuel tank and a spark ignited the fuel. Civilian crash report stated that just prior to touching down the engine gave a burst of power and on landing the aircraft ran into a small gulley on the moor which caused damage to the undercarriage and resulted in a wing striking the ground. The pilot, dressed in a business suit, grabbed his briefcase and scrambled clear of the aircraft before the fire damaged the cockpit area. His only injury was a cut to his finger. The aircraft then completely burnt out and the pilot then began walking off the moor, he headed roughly north and after being met by a farm labourer was taken to Midnight Farm. One can possibly imagine the shock on the farm labourer's face seeing a man with a suit and briefcase coming down off Urra Moor! The pilot was later taken to Middlesbrough and continued his journey to London by overnight bus. The aircraft was totally destroyed by the resulting fire, press reports stated that only fuselage wires, the engine and a petrol tank were left remaining when the fire went out. The site was later cleared with Cat.5/FA/Burnt damage being recorded.
Pilot - Mr Michael Jolley, of North West London. Slightly injured.
Mr Jolley with his wife to be, photo taken at Redhill in February 1966. Many thanks to Mr Jolley for recounting this incident in an email to John Skinn and for sending the photograph of himself and his wife for inclusion in this account. Thanks also to air historian Mr David Thompson for sending me a summary of the crash report.
The aircraft came down on the ridge shown in the photograph above, when John Skinn and I visited the site in December 2005 a small number of pieces of the aircraft were still present including the remains of a battery and possibly part of the altimeter.
The remains of what could have been the aircraft's altimeter.
Part of a battery from the aircraft.
A small section of tubing found at the site.
Mascarets were originally owned by French flying clubs and used for circuit training as well as advanced flying work. This actual aircraft was built by Societe Aeronautique Normandie at Bernay and purchased by Norman Jones trading as Tiger Club at Redhill on 26th February 1964 as new from Bernay. The club was still the owner of the aircraft when it was written off. Mr Jolley had flown this specific aircraft on a grand European tour two years previously, having flown non stop from Gatwick to Innsbruck, he had lunch then headed south climbing up over the Brenner Pass and the Alps then cruised down the Adriatic to land at Dubrovnik for a three day stay then onwards to Corfu. After a few days there they headed west to Palermo then home via Cagliari, Cannes and Dijon.