Avro 504 G-EAZW at Hartshead Moor Top.
On Saturday, 3rd May 1924 this aeroplane was used at a field in the Brighouse area, off Thornhills Lane, Clifton where some form of flying gala took place or where a temporary airfield allowed for paying passenger flights around the local area of the Spen Valley to be made. The Northern Aviation Company, of Manchester were employed to undertake the passenger flights in their aeroplane and they supplied their pilot. During the days prior to this eventual mishap the aeroplane was flown a number of times from the field. During the morning of 3rd May the flight was undertaken despite their being what appears poor visibility. While flying over the ridge at Hartshead Moor Top the aeroplane circled for time and eventually descended. It then flew through telegraph wires along a road, a short distance later it flew through a tree in an orchard and part of the undercarriage broke off and lodged in the tree. The aeroplane then crashed on what was described as being Springfield Hall football ground at around 09.00hrs. The aeroplane was damaged and the passenger, who was seated in the front seat, and was the most seriously injured, he sustained a broken nose. The aeroplane must have been badly damaged as it was not repaired following this incident.
Pilot - Mr Samuel Summerfield.
Passenger - Mr Brian Clay, of Lightcliffe. Injured.
Air Mechanic - Name unknown.
Samuel Summerfield was born in 1894 in Derbyshire though later moved to Melton Mowbray. He was one of the names that have been forgotten in early British aviation. As early as 1909 he appears to have been building and flying his own gliders and in 1911 he was in business there selling full scale and model aircraft and engines. Taking up proper flying training he was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.292) following training at the Britol School, Brooklands in September 1912. He appears to have owned his own Bleriot monoplane in 1914 and also flew a Watson Rocking Wing Machine in 1914 (I would recommend anyone reading this to Google this type to get an idea of how early in powered flight this was). In June 1914 he survived what could have been a serious crash in his Bleriot when the rudder control wire broke, he crash landed but managed to keep his feet high and avoided any serious injury. He appears to have been flying as a civilian instructor during the first half of the First World War. He worked for the Midland Flying School, Birmingham in 1915 and the Bournemouth School in 1916. What he did in 1917 and 1918 is not yet known but he may have joined the RFC as a flying instructor and later with the RAF. After the First World War he undertook more civilian flying, at airshows taking paying passengers into the air. This was almost certainly what was happening when he crashed an Avro 504 near Doncaster in April 1922 and then another Avro 504 in May 1924 at Hartshead Moor Top. This line of work continued until at least 1926 while serving in the RAF Reserve. He was involved in a more serious accident on 27th July 1926 when he was flying Avro 504 G-EADP over Morecambe and his passenger fell out, wearing no parachute he was killed. By 1930 he appears to have been doing civilian flying at Bridlington. On 6th September 1930 he force landed an aeroplane near Cowlam during a passenger carrying flight over the Driffield area. He relinquished his commission in the RAF in 1931. He would later leave the UK in 1934 to become a gold prospector in Australia and died there in 1967.