On Wednesday, 22nd July 1953 this Leeds University Air Squadron aircraft took off from Sherburn in Elmet airfield at around 14.15hrs with an instructor and a cadet pupil to undertake a training exercise involving practice spinning and recovery. From the available accident documentation it appears that the cadet was asked to put the aircraft into a spin by the instructor from which he recovered from successfully. A short time later then instructor asked the cadet to put the aircraft into a second spin. When the pupil was unable to recover from the spin the instructor took control, he too was unable to bring the aircraft back under control so ordered the cadet to abandon the aircraft. The instructor had not then abandoned the aircraft by the time it dived into the ground almost vertically at the edge of a cornfield near Park House Farm, Birkin. The aircraft caught fire but the fire was put out by crews from Selby and Knottingley. The instructor was killed. The cadet, who was from Headingley, Leeds, landed around two hundred metres from the crash site and was taken to hospital at Pontefract. An investigation concluded that the height at which the second spin was begun was too low so that when the initial recovery was not successful there was then not enough height remaining for the instructor to fully regain control. The order to abandon the aircraft was also given too late.
Instructor Pilot - F/Lt Maurice Peter Davies RAF (119872), aged 33. Buried Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Cadet / Pupil - Cadet Elwin John David Diaper RAF (2607838).
Maurice Davies was from Church Hill, near Bramhope and had been in the RAF since 1939. He was buried locally to Church Fenton airfield at Kirkby Wharfe cemetery.
In September 2004 Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and Ken Reast located the crash site, with permission from the landowner, near Park House Farm. It was initially confirmed with precise local knowledge though only one small fragment of the aircraft was located.