This twenty five year old aircraft was owned by a syndicate of the Newcastle and Teesside Gliding Club members. On 12th September 1981 the aircraft was being flown back to the Club's Carlton Bank base from Sherburn in Elmet where it had had a re-conditioned engine fitted. When the aircraft arrived in the Ingleby Arncliffe area the engine failed at 700 feet and the pilot was left with no option but to land the aircraft in a field. He attempted to land in a field between the A19 and A172 roads. I have been fortunate to have been contacted by the pilot who tells that his touch down was quite smooth but he ran out of field before the aircraft came to a stop (the Auster brakes being very poor and the aircraft being prone to tip over if braked heavily). He penetrated a hedge at the far end of the fiele and unfortunately there was a drop of a couple of feet into the next field which damaged the undercarriage. The engine failed because there was found to be a jelly-like substance in the aircraft's fuel supply, following an engine change this fuel should have been purged but for what ever reason this was not done and after a time in the air the engine failed. The pilot exited the aircraft and walked along a lane to the nearest house and whilst on route, met a couple of hikers rushing the other way who told him that an aircraft had crashed. The engine had been running erratically and emitting smoke during the descent which they were presumed to have noticed and were coming to help, should it be needed.
Pilot - Mr Albert Newbery.
This Auster Aiglet was built by Auster Aircraft Ltd at Raceby and first registered on 25th November 1954 to George Henry Waugh and was
based at Twyford, Hampshire. The regisatration was changed on 31st March 1955 to Eric Rylands and G.H. Waugh with the aircraft based
both at Samlesbury and Twyford. It was purcahsed by Skyways Ltd of London and registered to them on 14th May 1957. The registration
details were transferred to Skyways Coach & Air Ltd, London on 27th May 1959 and it remained with them until 23rd March 1965. The aircraft
was purchased by Rodney Grenville Hill of Faversham and Duncan Graham Barber of Canterbury and registered to them on 8th April 1965
and remained with them until 14th August 1965. The registration was next taken up by John William Benson of Ardley, Bicester on 17th August
1965 and remained with him until 23rd November 1966. It was next registered to Jimmy Blumer (Yarm) Ltd on 6th December 1966
and remained with the company until 25th September 1968. Permen Engineering Co (Teesside) Ltd based at Stockton-on-Tees were next
to register the aircraft on 28th October 1968 but only kept it until 1st January 1970. It's next owner was Emily Walker of
Billingham who registered the aircraft on 27th Fenruary 1970 and kept it until 1st October 1973. It passed to Norman Revell
trading as Newcastle & Teesside Gliding Club, based at Chester Le Street on 27th November 1973 and remained registered to the
company until 17th March 1981. The next registered owner was Teesfare Holding Ltd based at Middlesbrough who took up the
registration on 13th May 1981 and it was whilst in their ownership that it suffered it's accident on 12th September 1981.
They remained the owners of the aircraft until the registration was cancelled on 23rd January 1984. It was bought by Ron Neal (trading as R N Aviation) from the insurers
and stored at Leicester Airport but was not repaired. Mr Lee Mullins (trading as Applied Fasteners
& Components) based at Meppershall, Bedfordshire bought the engineless remains of the aircraft, taking up the registration on 18th June 1984. He
set about restoring it thereafter, throug the work of Ron Neal. It is through contact with Mr Mullins
that I learn that he got it for around £900, and enlisted Ron Neal to carry out repairs to an airworthy condition. An engine was sourced
that had lastly previous seen service in a Miles Gemini but previously in a Chipmunk. A replacement propeller was obtained
from the College of Air Training based at Hamble and unused cowlings from an Auster AOP.6 from nearby at Lee-on-Solent.
Three years after purchasing it Mr Mullins finally flew it from Leicester to its new base at Little Gransden airfield in Cambridgeshire
but on this flight he
force landed at Gransden after the oil pressure dropped, caused by a blocked oil filter. Some weeks later this was fixed but engine trouble
in flight again caused a force-landing after the rocker gear became separated from the cylinder head. A landing at Badminton was made
and the photograph below shows the aircraft after being stripped down again.
The aircraft was again repaired and Mr Mullins flew it for a
number of years
adding the "Shepherd's Delight" nose-art! He sold it during the recession in the early 1990's. It's final owner was Nayland Aiglet Group
based at Braintree, Essex, after the insurer paid out following the crash of their previous Aiglet Trainer, they took
up the registration on 20th April 1993. It was again damaged in a crash three months later and the registration was cancelled
as "PWFU" (Permanently withddrawn from use) on 20th September 1993. Its current state is not known but it was believed to have been under restoration again at one point.
At the time of the crash the pilot was a gliding instructor and tug pilot at the Carlton gliding site where the aircraft was used as a tow plane. He was awarded the BGA Medal in 2019.
I would like to thank the pilot of the aircraft Mr Newbery for contacting and for correcting some of the facts about the incident. I would also like to thank Mr Lee Mullins for contacting me, for supplying the photographs shown on this page and for the additional information he was kindly able to provide.