On 24th June 1953 this 203 Advanced Flying School aircraft was one of at least three that took off from Driffield airfield to undertake a training exercise which appears to have been partly flown off the Yorkshire coast. During a tailchase the pilot of this aircraft noticed that the temperature on the jet pipe had risen to a high level. He left the formation and when the temmperature reduced toward a normal level he attempted to rejoin the formation. By this stage the formation was near the coastline and heading towards him at a lower height. He put the aircraft into a diving turn but during this manoeuvre the speed became excessive. He then attempted to level out the aircraft but believed that the controls were not working so abandoned it in a high speed dive just after crossing the coast south of Filey. He was slightly injured as he left the cockpit and may have struck the tail. Once he had left the aircraft it then pulled itself out of the high speed dive, climbed steeply with an empty cockpit, stalled and dived into the ground near Southfield Farm, Speeton. It disintergrated in an oat field and caught fire narrowly missing some farm workers. The pilot received leg and head injuries, he landed around half a mile from where the aircraft crashed and was taken to hospital in Bridlington. It was felt that the pilot abandoned the aircraft needlessly. He thought it was uncontrollable but given the empty aircraft pulled itself out of the dive it must have been recoverable.
Pilot - P/O David Thomas McCann RAF (2533339). Injured.