Meteor T.7 VW455 near Rudston.

During the morning of Wednesday, 2nd April 1952 this 203 Advanced Flying School aircraft was flown on a training flight that involved some aerobatic flying training. It took off from Driffield airfield at 09.30 with an instructor flying with a pupil pilot and they climbed to 14,000 feet. While flying over the North Sea they undertook some aerobatic flying but when the control column was moved from the starboard side to the middle it was found that a solid obstruction prevented this. This appears to have occurred at 09.49hrs and these problems were felt with the handling of the aircraft around four miles north of Flamborough Head. The instructor made several attempts to correct the problem but was unsuccessful. He contacted flying control at Driffield who advised him to abandon the aircraft but as they still could maintain height and some control, and as they were over the sea they decided to remain with the aircraft and fly a starboard arc back over land. Once well in-land the instructor inverted the aircraft, jettisoned the canopy and ordered the pupil to abandon the aircraft before he himself then left. The instructor fell clear and his parachute was opened normally, though he drifted slightly south after parachute opened, he landed near Rudston House, Rudston uninjured. Unfortunately once the aircraft was upside down and after the instructor in the back seat had fallen clear, the parachute harness webbing of the pupil in the front seat became caught on a protruding bracket and bolt above his seat which prevented him from getting free. Owing to being upside down, gravity and the speed of the air forcing him back over the rear cockpit the pupil was unable to push himself free. He attempted to stream open the parachute and the forces created eventually caused the webbing stitching to snap. Unfortunately the streaming parachute caught on another part of the aircraft before he was free so that when the pupil fell free of the aircraft he was then dragged behind it for a short time. The parachute then ripped and he fell clear but had his arms and legs wrapped around the parachute cords below a significantly damaged parachute. He was exceptionally lucky to only suffer and a broken arm and leg as a result of his heavy landing. Where he landed is not clear from the accident documentation or from newspaper reports, "five miles away" was quoted, as were Thwing and Burton Fleming. At just after 10.00hrs the aircraft crashed into and broke up in fields between Rudston and Burton Fleming, mainly on land farmed by the owners of Springdale Farm. Newspaper reports gave accounts from witnesses who stated that they believed the aircraft had exploded in the air but as the accident report makes no mention of this and given the wreckage on the ground was fairly concentrated this seems unlikely.

The last radio signal given by the instructor was roughly over Staxton Wold and immediately after this he inverted the aircraft and left. With the pupil being stuck it must have taken some time for him to then free himself which must have seen the aircraft then travel some distance before he freed himself. The instructor is quoted as having drifted in the wind for some distance and it may well be just a coincidence that he actually landed near where the aircraft then crashed. The pupil fell much faster once clear and therefore must have been dragged behind the aircraft for some distance which the instructor must have witnessed from his parachute.

Owing to the total destruction of VW455 it could not be determined what had caused the aileron control to jam. Similar issues were found with at least two other Meteors but their pilots had been able to landing them normally so the cause could be investigated. It was found that the aileron controls of these other two aircraft jammed because of the buckling of the rods in the aileron control circuit. Investigations into the problem felt this the buckling was caused by the download on the ailerons during aerobatic manoeuvres or flight at high speed when excessive load may have been applied by pilots in an attempt to hold their aircraft level.

Instructor Pilot - F/Sgt Brian Anthony O'Callaghan RAF (1321774).

Pupil Pilot - F/Sgt Marian Jankiewicz RAF (704305). Injured.

Marian Jankiewicz was a very experienced propeller aircraft pilot with his experiences gained during the Second World War. He was born on 18th January 1923 in Poland. There is a detailed Wikipedia page about his life. Once in the UK in 1943 he trained as a pilot and later flew with 639 Squadron and 315 Squadron. He died in September 2019 in London.

Back to yearly selection.