Jet Provost T.3 XN631 near Northallerton.
At 16.40hrs on 20th April 1965 Jet Provost XN631 took off from Leeming airfield with the crew detailed to undertake a training flight with No.3 Flying Training School. On board was an instructor
flying with a pupil with just one hour flying practice previously flown and the purpose of the flight was to give him dual instruction training to fly straight and level. After taking off the aircraft
climbed through cloud to around 6,000 feet and around a thousand foot above the top of the cloud level. The instructor then gave control to the pupil and began the flying training exercise. Several
minutes later the pilots of this aircraft noticed another aircraft below and to the left of them, XN631 was then struck at the rear by the other aircraft and immediately went out of control. The
instructor gave the order to eject, both men left the aircraft and landed with minor injuries. The aircraft then went on to crash inverted into a field around two miles east of Northallerton in the
Bullamoor area.
The other aircraft was Jet Provost XM428, also a No.3 Flying Training School aircraft. This struck the tail of XN631 with its nose and also went out of control.
XM428 also crashed in the same area. This is detailed on its own webpage. The RAF recovered both wrecked aircraft to the scrap heap at Dishforth airfield where they remained for some months.
Pilot (Pupil) - P/O Colin Sharples RAF (4232503).
Pilot (Instructor)- F/Lt John Swaine RAF (608122).