Jet Provost T.3 XN588 near North Grimston.
This No.1 Flying Training School aircraft took off from Linton on Ouse airfield at 11.26hrs on 18th May 1967 with the pilot detailed to undertake a local flying exercise. The pilot was inexperienced in flying the Jet Provost, while he had completed circuits and landings flying at Linton on Ouse, he had just five hours flying experience of flying the aircraft type and he probably had limited instrument flying experience. This was his first flight outside of the general area of Linton on Ouse. After taking off he headed east but entered a layer of cloud in the Malton area. It was thought that he lost control after becoming disorientated while flying in cloud which saw the aircraft dive toward the ground. At 11.42hrs the aircraft dived into woodland near North Grimston, not far from the old Malton to Driffield railway line. The pilot was killed and the aircraft was destroyed. Emergency services drove down the railway trackbed to reach the crash site.
Pilot - Msn Ronald Geoffrey Maxwell RN, aged 20. Cremated Liverpool.
Ronald Maxwell was born on 19th September 1946 and his family lived on Cranford Road, Aigburth, Liverpool. He had been a member of the ATC as a boy where he gained glider pilot certificates. He joined the Royal Navy and had just completed a year at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. He had been posted to undertake pilot training at Linton on Ouse two months before his death.
