On 2nd July 1972 this Cessna took off from Teesside Airport to photograph one of the passenger's farms just below the Cleveland Hills. After take off the aircraft headed east towards Stokesley and then descended so that one of those on board could photograph his farm, Low Farm, near Ingleby Greenhow. The aircraft passed over the farm but was still flying too low by the time it reached the head of the valley. Realising the aircraft could not gain enough height to clear the high ground in the distance remaining the pilot probably attempted fly towards the lowest part of the moor but that a crash was then inevitable, he pulled the nose of the aircraft at the last moment which may well have saved the lives of the three men on board. The aircraft struck Greenhow Moor which tore off the nose wheel and it summersaulted before coming to rest upside down. The three men on board they were lucky to walk away with their lives dispite suffering injuries. They were met walking down Ingleby Incline by a family living in Incline Cottages who contacted the emergency services.
The aircraft was built by Reims Aviation SA at Reims, France and first registered in the UK to Northair Aviation Ltd at Leeds/Bradford on 12th April 1967 who only kept the aircraft until 16th May 1967 when it was put up for sale. It was purchased by Stourfield Investments Ltd based in Jersey on 4th October 1967 and remained with them until put up for sale on 26th August 1968. It was purchased by Saturn Aviation Ltd at Fairoaks on 14th January 1968 and remained with them until 6th March 1969. It was then registered to a Robert Jaffe at Elstree on 8th May 1969 and remained with him until 26th June 1970 when it was registered to Air Gregory Ltd at Denham on 8th July 1970 but was only with them for ten days until 18th July 1970. On 28th July 1970 Brismo Finance Ltd (a finance company) took the registration and the aircraft almost certainly remained at Denham awaiting a purchaser. On 19th January 1972 the aircraft was registered to Beacon Air Services Ltd at Teesside Airport. Following the accident on 2nd July 1972 it was removed from the moor and recorded as destroyed although the wing sections were later seen stored in a hanger at Teesside Airport.
Pilot - Mr Fred Ayres, aged 30, of Hilton-in-Cleveland. Suffered from shock.
Passenger - Mr Gerry Broad, aged 30, of Low Farm, Ingleby Greenhow. Suffered nose and chest injuries.
Passenger - Mr Alan Robinson, aged 25, of Acklam, Middlesbrough. Suffered a leg injury.
John Skinn and I initially searched for this crash site in December 2005 but only had the very poor Middlesbrough Evening Gazette photograph as shown above to go on for a location. Numerous stretches of moor could quite easily fit for the crash site using this photograph though it now is almost certainly a view looking north from the site and towards Burton Howe. In October 2012 the local "Now and Then" magazine published two photographs of the up-turned aircraft so we returned to try and get a more accurate crash location using these photographs the following month. The site has to be in the area shown in my colour photographs. Nothing in the way of wreckage was found, but we didn't expect there to be anything, the aircraft crashed virtually intact and was probably dismantled and removed down Ingleby Incline in large sections or airlifted off the moor.
Two further views of the crash location.
