During the afternoon of 24th September 1942 this No.15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit aircraft was flown on a training exercise. While the unit was based at Leconfield it had the use of the satellite airfield of Acaster Malbis and based on where this accident occurred it seems most likely that the pilot had taken off from there rather than the parent airfield. The pilot was briefed to undertake a solo training flight that was to include practicing making steep turns and practice stalls. It took off at 15.00hrs (almost certainly from Acaster Malbis). At 15.25hrs the aircraft was seen to be in a steep dive at around 2500 feet above the ground. The pilot then pulled out of the dive and began to climb but then almost immediately it entered a steep dive again. The pilot was unable to recover from this dive in the height available and it dived into the ground near Ryther. The pilot was killed in the crash, his body was taken back to the parent airfield at Leconfield for burial in the parish churchyard there on 28th September 1942.
Pilot - Sgt Kenneth Francis Cadd RAAF (415114), aged 21. Buried Leconfield Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Oxford X7073 was built to contract B.66827/40 by Airspeed Ltd. at Christchurch and was awaiting collection in November 1941. The aircraft was taken on charge by 15 S.F.T.S. at Kidlington on 30th November 1941 and then moved to Leconfield with the unit early in 1942. On 1st March 1942 15 S.F.T.S. was re-designated 15 (P)A.F.U. As a result of the crash at Ryther on 24th September 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was the result of the damage assessment and it was written off.
Kenneth Cadd was born on 25th July 1921 in Kellerberrin, Western Australia, he enlisted in Perth on 21st July 1941 and was working as a postal clerk at the time. After initial training he gained his Wings in April 1942. He arrived in the UK on 25th August 1942 and was posted to 15 (P)AFU on 11th September 1942 just two weeks before his death in the accident at Ryther. At the time of his death he had flown eleven hours in the Oxford type.