Sidestrand J9180 near Great Hatfield.

On 5th May 1930 B-Flight of 101 Squadron was to fly from Andover north to Catfoss aerodrome where a practice camp was to be held, this would include gunnery and bombing exercises off the Yorkshire coast. During the afternoon three Boulton and Paul Sidestrands set out from Andover for the flight north and they were seen to fly over Hull together at just before 17.00hrs. Unfortunately the weather around the East Riding of Yorkshire coastline was poor with low cloud or mist affecting visibility. All three crews appear to have struggled to locate where they were and they ended up on the coast in the Hornsea area and flying very low. At around 16.00hrs Sidestrand J9180 was seen over from the seafront at Hornsea and owing to how low it was flying it narrowly missed the roof of the Floral Hall, promenade flagstaff and the parish church. From Hornsea the crew took a roughly south-westerly course, overflew Southorpe at rooftop height and having reached the Hull water tower, near Great Hatfield, turned west following the road. The pilot appears to have attempted to make a forced landing near Great Hatfield but unfortunately, in narrowly missing a hedge the aeroplane struck the crossbar of a football goal on the village football field. It demolished the goal, struck a sixty foot high tree, then a second but (possibly) dead tree and dragged off the branches. This impact with the second tree damaged the right wing and caused the aeroplane to turn and struck the ground hard, nose first. It came to rest in a small field next to the Great Hatfield to Hornsea road opposite East Acres. The photograph above shows the damage and it is remarkable that the three crew escaped with relatively minor injuries given the state of the damage. The pilot was the most seriously injured and while he received head injuries they appear to have been only minor, he was taken into the nearby East Acres by the owner before heading elsewhere.

Pilot - Sgt L Carter RAF (335511).

Observer - Name unknown.

Air Mechanic - Name unknown.