On 1st March 1954 this 207 Advanced Flying School aircraft took off from Full Sutton airfield at 14.30hrs with an instructor and a pupil pilot detailed to undertake a general handling flight to include runs at 30,000 feet and also some aerobatic flying. The pupil pilot took the aircraft up to 30,000 feet and successfully undertook the first part of the exercise. The next part of the exercise was for the instructor to demonstate the effects on the body while making various stalls, turns and during aerobatics. The pupil descended down to 20,000 feet and carried out a slow roll but the handling of the aircraft by the pupil was deemed by the instructor to be somewhat rough. The instructor took control and then demonstrated to the pupil his faults by deliberately making the roll again with coarse handling of the aircraft. Mid-way through the instructor's demonstration the roll the aircraft flicked into what the instructor believed as an inverted spin. He managed to temporarily regain control but then it entered another inverted spin in the opposite direction. He again temporarily regained control but it then rolled into a tight fast spin with the nose pointing nearly vertically down. After this the instructor did not attempt to regain control, the canopy was jettisoned and he gave the order to abandon the aircraft. The aircraft must have been inverted in the dive at this stage as the instructor released his harness and fell clear, opening his parachute and landing safely. The pupil did not leave the aircraft until the aircraft was much lower. The aircraft fell inverted onto frozen and snow covered fields near Caville Hall Farm, between Portington and Howden at 15.00hrs and the pupil's body was unfortunately located near the crash site with the parachute not properly open.
It was later thought that the pupil had mistakenly unfastened his parachute released instead of his harness release and that the delay in leaving the cockpit was due to him refastening his parachute. It was found that only two lugs on his harness were fastened which were probably the only two he managed to secure before opting to leave the aircraft. Unfortunately by the time he left, the aircraft was too low for his parachute to operate properly.
Pilot (Pupil) - P/O Leonard William George Wheeler RAF (4107518), aged 22. Buried Sutton Cemetery, Surrey.
Pilot (Instructor) - F/O Arthur Stanley Henn RAF (3510876).
Historians Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and Ken Reast sought permission from the landowner in the mid 2000s and located small fragments of the aircraft to confirm the crash location.
