DH.9 G-EAYU on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds.

During the afternoon of Friday, 29th September 1922 this aeroplane was flown from Sheburn in Elmet over to Leeds so that aerial photographs could be taken of various buildings. The pilot appears to have taken the approach of reducing engine power prior to descending for a photograph to be taken and then re-applying power to climb once the photograph was taken. At around 14.00hrs the aeroplane was just south of the parkland of Woodhouse Moor when the engine failed, from reading various newspaper accounts of the incident it appears that the pilot had reduced the engine power and descended for the photograph to be taken but that the engine would not then pick up again. The pilot saw the Woodhouse Moor being an area of open space and attempted to glide there to make a landing. Height was lost and the aeroplane just cleared Reservoir Street, it then clipped trees near the South Lodge observatory. Just prior to landing the pilot saw in his path a person pushing something (this later turned out to be a nurse pushing a perambulator) so he made a dive and attempted to land sooner rather than risk hitting them. The aeroplane was damaged across the underside and the propeller. Using old and modern mapping, the site appears to have been on the grass area just east of the bowling green.

As a sequel to this incident, the pilot and the De Havilland Aircraft Company were taken to court in Leeds during November 1922 and were charged with offences under the Air Navigation Act of 1920 in respect of this forced landing made in Leeds two months earlier. The law at that time appears to have prevented anyone from flying below 4000 feet over a city. The company took a contract to take up the photographer and fly him at low height over the city while the pilot was their employee and while he had little option but to obey his employers he was still the pilot. The company was charged twenty five pounds whilst the pilot was fined forty shillings.

Pilot - Mr Derek Allin Adey Shepperson.

Passenger / Photographer - Mr Joseph Edge (of Central Aerophoto Company (Ltd)).