Dornier Do.28 G-ASUR at Hedon airfield.
In October 1964 the Wallace and Jones (Aviation) Ltd. had planned to hold a demonstration of flying at Hedon airfield in front of selected guests from the Hull Corporation Planning Committee, East Riding Council, Distillers Co. Ltd. and other industries represented. The company was already an air taxi operator based in Nottinghamshire but they were planning on expanding their business. They aimed to gain permission to operate feeder air services from Hedon to the national airports such as those at Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Darlington, with potential to operate to continental airfields. The aeroplane they had intended on using to demonstrate their idea was a German Dornier Do.28 which could take off on a short runway with up to eight passengers. It was flown to Hedon and was probably hangered in one of the old buildings on the airfield. On Wednesday, 21st October 1964 after a flight and on landing at Hedon it ran into a pot hole which badly damaged the undercarriage and the engine mountings. The aircraft was then taken into one of the disused prewar hangers to wait repair. The Hull Corporation refused permission for the use of the Hedon site for this purpose.
Pilot - S/Ldr William George Wallace.
William Wallace had been a Halifax pilot in the Second World War, he then flew Meteors and newspaper reports relating to his death state that while stationed at Driffield he crashed on a East Yorkshire village but which incident this relates to is not known. He had survived a car crash on 1st May 1950 at Whinhill Lock corner, between Driffield and Wansford which killed S/Ldr Thomas Gray, his inquest Wallace gave evidence and stated that he had just arrived at Driffield airfield. The unit records 203 AFS record book state that he was posted to them from Hawarden for ATC duties on 1st May 1950. Wallace was then posted to RAF Feltwell on 8th May 1950.
This aircraft was built in Germany and initially registered as D-IBOM. In July 1964 William George Wallace and William David Ponton Jones bought it and registered it on the UK register as G-ASUR. They were based at Pleasley Vale, Nottinghamshire and were trading as Wallace and Jones (Aviation) Ltd. Following the damage sustained at Hedon in October 1964 spares and engineers were brought from Germany to repair it. It had cost the owners £30,000 and was a brand new aircraft. Following the damaged sustained at Hedon on 21st October 1964, parts arrived by sea just over a week after the damage was sustained and engineers were flown in to Manchester and drived to Hull to install the new parts. It was planned that a demonstation flight was to have taken place toward the end of first week in November 1964 but this may never have happened. By mid-November the company was offered the use of Pocklington airfield. In February 1965 Wallace was still attempting to set up an airport at Hull so the company made a demonstration flight at Wyton Bar, near Hull but the project never materialised. The same month the aircraft transferred to Sheffair Ltd, Sheffield (which may also have been owned by the same Wallace / Jones partnership. William Wallace was killed in a helicopter crash on New Guinea on 25th February 1968 while with Bristow Helicopters. The aircraft was later given a U.S. registration N123CA. It crashed at Spanhoe airfield in November 2022.