Martinet NR570 near Hudswell, Richmond.
Aircrew training at Leeming airfield in the Summer of 1951 were using the Martinet aircraft as a target aircraft as part of their
training in the use of the interception radar while flying in Wellingtons. Cadets from 1869 (Middlesbrough) Squadron ATC were visiting
Leeming in August 1951 during their summer camp and the boys were being given flights in both aircraft to demonstrate such techniques.
In the mid-afternoon of 13th August 1951 such a training flight was being carried out with each of the two aircraft were carrying one
ATC Cadet and any other day such a flight would have been a fantastic experience for these young boys. There were three trainee
navigators on board Wellington PG367, all taking turns in doing the interceptions. One of these was no novice, F/Lt Quinton had been a night-fighter
navigator who was awarded the DFC in 1946 but was retraining at the time of this accident. He had been de-mobbed after the War but had
found civilian life hard and after five years had re-applied for a short-service commission. For him this training flight would have
been very much run of the mill and really only a refresher course.
On 13th August 1951 this Martinet took off and flew away in one direction, a short time later the Wellington took off with
seven on board and flew off in the opposite direction. The radar operators would then guide their pilot to the Martinet
to practice their skills. Both aircraft were flying at between 8,000 to 10,000 feet and free of cloud but without warning cloud
closed in and the Martinet appeared out of the cloud and too close to the Wellington, it's wing struck the Wellington. The
Martinet then went into a dive and crashed killing the two crew, a pilot and the ATC Cadet. Both probably stood
no chance of being able to get out. The Wellington crashed soon after and that aircraft is detailed on it's own
webpage. A memorial to those killed in both aircraft was dedicated in Hudswell village on the sixiety anniversary
of the accident in 2011 and unveiled by Mr Roger Quinton.
Pilot - F/Lt Alexander Hannay RAF (120473), aged 32, of Stranraer, Scotland. Buried Kirkcoln Cemetery, Stranraer.
Passenger - Cpl Malcolm Bruton ATC, aged 16, of Middlesbrough. Buried Acklam Cemetery, Middlesbrough.
Alexander Hannay had served in WW2, he received a commission on 22nd October 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) in
the RAFVR, rising to F/O on 1st October 1942 and later to F/Lt on 22nd October 1943. On 12th August 1944 he was serving with 51
Squadron in Bomber Command and was the pilot of Halifax MZ349 on Ops to Brunswick, the aircraft was hit by flak and a number of
the crew were able to clear the aircraft before it crashed into the sea off the Danish Coast. F/Lt Hannay saw the War out as a PoW.
After his release he remained in the Reserve post-war and by June 1948 he was in the RAFVR's Training Branch. He relinquished his
F/O commission in the RAFVR on 2nd March 1949 on appointment to a short service commission in the RAF to the rank of F/Lt. Credit
for the photograph of F/Lt Hannay is to the superb "51 Squadron History Association".
In Summer 2012 air historian Mr Ken Reast set about locating this crash site and found a witness to the collision in Hudswell who directed him to the field and to the farmer of the land Mr Harrison of Hudswell. I went with Ken on his first trip to the field to be shown where the aircraft crashed, but long grass in the field hampered a field walk of the site to try and pin point it. We did however roughly mark the location for a later return when the grass was either cut or ploughed. In May 2013 Ken, Eric Barton and Albert Pritchard received the permission from the farmer to visit and they returned to find the site. I had received an invitation to an aircraft memorial dedication on the same day elsewhere so was unable to attend. They found a few small fragments of the aircraft in a confined area which confirms the aircraft as having crashed in this field. One small find was an instrument face from the Rate of Climb Indicator shown below. My thanks to Ken and (the now late Albert Pritchard) for the photographs shown on this page.
