Meteor F.8 WE933 near New Earswick.
The pilot of this 64 Squadron aircraft was undertaking a training flight over the York area on Sunday, 6th May 1951 when problems were encountered. The aircraft dived into the ground from about 15,000 feet at full power beside the York to Hull railway line which created a large crater after the aircraft disappeared into the ground and exploded. The pilot stood no chance, he was killed instantly. It was suggested that anoxia may have caused the pilot to black out but this was never proven because the total destruction to the aircraft left little to inspect and assess. The railway line was damaged by the blast and a 10mph speed restriction was placed on the stretch until it could be repaired.
Pilot - Sgt Kenneth John Hodgson RAF (577966), aged 26. Buried Queenstown Cemetery, Blackpool, Lancashire.
A large crater which I was originally led to believe was the crash site next to the York to Scarborough line is infact the remains of a partly filled-in wartime bomb crater from the raid on York in April 1942. These two photographs show the crater.
Since creating this webpage I have been contacted by a number of people who heard the aircraft before it crashed, by all accounts it was screaming in the descent. Mr Derek Cooper was one of these people and although he did not see the aircraft strike he heard it in the dive from some distance away and went to see it later. I worked with Derek for many years and I thank him for the information he was able to provide to this account and other incidents in the York area during the early days of this website. Sadly he died in Summer 2013, great bloke.
Kenneth Hogdson was possibly born in Manchester on 28th June 1924.
