On 1st June 1978 two No.1 Flying Training School Jet Provosts were undertaking a training exercise over the Yorkshire Dales when they were seen flying low in the Nidderdale area. Just after 10.00hrs one of the aircraft struck the water about half way along Gouthwaite Reservoir towards the eastern bank. Civilian witnesses realised they could do nothing for anyone in the aircraft they contacted the police. Two local police officers were next to arrive, one officer dived into the water but found no trace of the pilot or of the aircraft during his search. Police divers later recovered the body of the pilot and much of the aircraft.

Pilot - F/Lt John Hutton Fox RAF (8024955), aged 29. Cremated Bedford Crematorium.

John Fox was born in Oxford on 23rd January 1949 and was the son of Peter and Beryl Florence (nee Marsh) Hutton Fox. It seems likely that he was Cranwell-trained and received a permanent commission into the RAF on 10th January 1969 as Acting P/O. He was confirmed in the rank of P/O exactly a year later and rose to F/O, again, exactly one year later in 1971. He married Denise Anne Hersey at Louth in December 1971. He rose to F/Lt on 10th July 1974 and had been an instructor at Linton on Ouse for more than a year when he lost his life in this flying accident.