The aircraft G-AHOA.
On 25th May 1950 the pilot of this aircraft was flying to Thornaby from the Derby area when the aircraft crashed on high ground on Out Moor, between Littondale and Wharfedale at around 18.00hrs in poor weather and poor visibility. The pilot managed to get out of the wreckage and walk away from the crash site. He was eventually found two hours later wearing only one shoe and was later taken to Skipton Hospital with bruises, cuts and suffering from shock. Looking into the aircraft's history it would appear that the aircraft was only registered to this pilot the day prior to this incident. He de-registered it on 31st May 1950.
I attempted to locate this crash site in Spring 2017 but failed to locate any remains of it, should there be anyone who can assist me with a better description of the location I would be pleased to hear from you.
Pilot - Mr Thomas William Hayhow. Injured.
Thomas Hayhow was born in Holkham, Norfolk on 26th November 1906 and was the son of Thomas Davy and Pleasance Maud (nee Ransom) Hayhow. During WW2 he served in the Merchant Navy. He married Edith Skinner in Hendon, Middlesex in 1942. He was a Royal Aero Club certificate holder (Cert.No.25027) gained at the Darlington and District Aero Club on 22nd September 1948 and at that time listed his occupation as being a marine engineer. At the time of his accident in the Yorkshire Dales he was managing director of the Stockton Shipping and Salvage Company based at Thornaby, the company broke up and scrapped old ships. He was a pilot of some high regard having made a number of record breaking flights. In April 1953 he was killed in a flying accident while attempting another record in Auster Aiglet G-AMOS "Liege Lady". He was attempting to fly from London to Belgrade on 10th April 1953 when the aircraft was reported as missing over the Alps. The aircraft was sighted by skiers on 25th May 1953 on it's back on a mountain at 6,000ft above sea level between the Grosse and Kleiner Breitstein peaks south of Salzburg, Austria but was not badly damaged. Tom Hayhow's body was found some distance away, possibly on a road between Gross Breitstein and Klein Breitstein. It was assumed that he had survived the crash but had died of exposure whilst trying to make his way down the mountain. His aircraft had probably ran into poor weather and he had attempted to return to Salzburg but ran out of fuel before clearing the mountains. His body was recovered from the mountain by US Army personnel and returned to the UK for burial at Market Lane Cemetery, Wells, Norfolk. Within the last year before his death he had made a series of 28 solo record flights between London and various European capital cities.
