Blackburn Monoplane near Old Malton.

On 25th July 1912 a fete held by Malton Hospital on the showfield on Pasture Lane in the town. The fete was well documented in the local newspapers of the time and was probably a fairly large gathering. The weather in the morning of the fete was poor but as it improved in the afternoon a flying display was given by the pilot of an aircraft who had flown it in from the establishment at Filey. On one of the flights the pilot lost control and although it went into a dive for sometime he managed to pull out of it and then attempted to force land in a wheat field between the show and Old Malton on the eastern side of the Malton to Gilling railway line. Unfortunately the aircraft's propeller caught the thick wheat crop, while it ran along for a short distance it then overturned. The pilot escaped injury but the aircraft was damaged. The local newspapers stated the aircraft crashed near Old Malton, it seems likely the aircraft crashed somewhere in the area where the Peasey Hills estate would later be built.

Pilot - Mr John "Jack" Brereton, of Filey.

Jack Brereton and Mr Robert Blackburn pictured with the Blackburn Monoplane aircraft at Malton prior to this incident. This photograph is believed to have appeared in the Northern Echo at the time of the incident. This was Mr Brereton's second incident in the Malton area in two months as he was the pilot of a Blackburn Mercury which force landed twice in a day at the Norton side of the River Derwent in May 1912.

Jack Brereton was born on 22nd July 1882 at Galway, Ireland. He learnt to fly at Brooklands and gained his Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate there on 19th September 1911 (Cert.No.136).