On Wednesday, 9th May 1951 this aircraft was one of five aeroplanes that flew from the Rallye International Aerien de la Foire de Paris (Paris Air Show) back to the UK. The five were this Moth Minor, a Danish registered Consul and three Austers. They left Paris at about 12.30hrs and after a brief stop at Le Touquet crossed the English Channel heading for Southend airfield. Having reached Kent they encountered poor visibility so all had to make forced landings. At 16.40hrs this Moth Minor was seen flying low in the Westminster area of Sheerness, it narrowly missed hitting a gasometer at Westminster before the pilot made a forced landing on a Naval sports field off Medway Road. Unfortunately the undercarriage and one of the wings clipped a boundary post which slightly damaged the aircraft. Both the pilot and passenger were uninjured but stated they were members of the Scottish Gliding Union and had planned to visit a gliding competition at Redhill on their way home. The incident featured in a lenthy article in the Sheerness newspaper which stated that it was planned for the damage to the Moth Minor to be repaired by an aero engineer from Rochester (either next day or 10th).
While I have yet to locate any definitive proof of what then occurred it is perhaps safe to assume that on Saturday, 12th May 1951 when the aircraft came to be over Yorkshire it was being flown from the Kent area back to Scotland. Unfortunately in the Harrogate area it ran out of fuel so the pilot made a forced landing in the Kirkby Overblow area. The aircraft appears to have sustained damage which must have been substantial as it was later written off. The aircraft was owned by George Whyte, of Kirkcaldy, Fife at the time of this accident.
Pilot - Mr George Whyte.
Passenger - Mr Jimmy Rae.