Spitfire P7671 near Driffield.
On 27th October 1941 the pilot of this 610 Squadron aircraft was undertaking an aerobatics training exercise when the aircraft stalled and went into a flat spin. The pilot made no attempt to correct the spin and the aircraft fell to the ground near Driffield at 14.50hrs. The pilot was killed and the aircraft was destroyed. The pilot had previously complained that he blacked out on a previous occasion and it was thought that he may have blacked out while making a turn prior to the aircraft stalling in this case. The crash site is recorded as being on the south-east outskirts of Driffield at "Winfield Farm" but a map reference is also given on the accident documentation. On a modern map no such farm exists though it is almost certainly a mis-spelling of "Whinhill Farm", which is also to the south-east side of the town and near to where the map reference plots.
Pilot - P/O Thomas William McClure Leckie RNZAF (NZ.402196), aged 24, of Heretaunga, Wellington, New Zealand. Buried Leconfield Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Thomas Leckie and his gravestone in Leconfield Churchyard. He was born on 8th March 1917 and was the son of Frank Maxwell and
Irene Leckie, of Heretaunga, Wellington, New Zealand. He was injured in a flying accident in June/July 1941.
Spitfire P7671 was built to contract B.981687/39/CB/23(c) by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Castle Bromwich and was delivered to
8 MU at Little Rissington on 20th November 1940. On 30th November 1940 it was taken on charge by 66 Squadron at West Malling, on
24th February 1941 it moved with this unit to Exeter. On 14th March 1941 it sustained minor damage in a flying accident with Cat.A(c)
damage being the assessment and it was repaired on site. On 27th April 1941 it moved with the unit when 66 Squadron moved to Perranporth.
On 13th June 1941 it was transferred to 152 Squadron based at Portreath but on 25th August 1941 they moved to Snailwell and took P7671
with them. On 7th September 1941 it transferred to 610 Squadron at Leconfield and was destroyed in the crash near Driffield on 27th
October 1941 with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded. The aircraft was struck off charge on 30th October 1941 when the paperwork caught up.