Avro Cadet G-ABVV and Slingsby Gull BGA.349 at Bowforth Farm, Welburn.
On 30th May 1939 Avro Cadet G-ABVV attempted to give an air-tow launch to a Slingsby Gull BGA349 glider from Welburn aerodrome. This small airstrip belonged to Major Shaw, of Welburn Hall, who allowed Fred Slingsby and also the Yorkshire Gliding Club use of it. Major Shaw owned the Avri Cadet while the Yorkshire Gliding Club owned the glider. The take off was seen by witnesses on the ground to have been normal. Some four hundred yards beyond the lay some trees, as the aeroplane approached the trees it lost speed slightly, possibly after turning slightly to avoid the trees. The glider then began to outclimb the tug aeroplane which saw the tow cable slacken. When the aeroplane levelled out and flying at a slower speed, the towing cable slack to the glider was taken up. This unfortunately saw the tail of the glider being pulled up by the faster flying glider. With this, control of the aeroplane was lost and it began to dive toward the ground until it was temporarily suspended by the glider. The weight on the glider's structure was too great and it began to break apart in the air, with the right wing failing. The aeroplane dived into the ground near Bowforth Farm almost vertically, while the pilot attempted to cast off the tow cable it was too late and too low to recover from the dive. The glider followed it down having began to break up in the air. Its pilot did not attempt to cast off the tow cable from the glider's end. Both pilots were died; the aeroplane pilot was killed instantly while the glider pilot died a short time later. Various recommendations were made after this accident around glider pilots not loosing sight of tug aeroplanes, being prepared to release the cable immediately on take off, tug pilots not changing direction suddenly near the ground and tug pilots climbing away with the free hand on the cable release lever should the need be required to make an immediate release.
Tug aircraft pilot - Mr Montagu Scott McMurdo, aged 42, of Welburn, Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire. Buried Kirkdale Minster, Yorkshire.
Glider pilot - Mr Angus Oastler Pick, aged 31, of Leeming Bar, Yorkshire. Buried Bedale Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Montagu McMurdo's gravestone in Kirkdale Churchyard, North Yorkshire. Montagu McMurdo was born on 27th October 1897 in Dublin, Ireland. He gained Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.9430) on 28th August 1930 at the London Aeroplane Club. Mr McMurdo was Major John Edward Durrant Shaw's private pilot and had flown for him for a number of years and was buried in the same private section of Kirkdale Cemetery set aside for the Shaw family. Major Shaw was not the pilot of the Cadet G-ABVV at the time it crashed on 30th May 1939 which is reported elsewhere on the internet. Major Shaw died on 21st April 1955 having lived at Welburn Hall, he was a keen supporter of civilian flying in Yorkshire and himself was a holder of a Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate. He also owned Avro 641 G-ACUG from 1934 until it was impressed by the RAF during WW2.
Angus Pick was born on 22nd November 1908 at Thirkleby, Yorkshire. He gained Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.12214) on 25th August 1934 at Yorkshire Air Services and at that time listed his occupation as a poultry farmer. He was a reasonably experienced glider pilot who held at least one glider endurance record. Richard Oastler Pick (who later served in the RAF in WW2) may well have been his brother and also Thomas Carner Pick and Richard Carver Pick (who also held Royal Aero Club certificates in the 1930s) may have been cousins.
Avro Cadet G-ABVV was built by A.V.Roe at Newton Heath as Serial No.589 and was registered to Major John E Durrant Shaw on 5th April 1932. A Certificate of Airworthiness was issued on 28th May 1932. It sustained Cat.W/FA damage in the incident detailed above but its registration was only cancelled in the 1946 post WW2 census on 1st December 1946. Most Avro Cadets were operated by civilian flying schools training RAF pilots. G-ABYC was registered to Charles E. Gardner and was used to win the Yorkshire Trophy Race at Sherburn on 16th July 1933 and later the Sherburn Short Handicap on 29th August 1934. G-ABVV was powered by a seven cylinder Genet Major engine. On 10th July 1937 it was being flown from Frankfurt to Wasserkuppe in Germany with Mr McMurdo as pilot and Mr Fred Slingsby as passsenger. A large sail plane meeting was taking place near Hamburg with the sailplanes from this mountain, the highest in the Rohn Mountains in Central Germany. A number of Slingsby's machines being used by the British team in these international championships. One presumes the Cadet was either taken by road or rail to Germany or had been flown across the channel in the weeks prior to this date. On 10th July "thick weather forced them to make a hurried landing in a field at Fulda" (so Flight magazine stated at the time). The aircraft sustained serious damage but the occupants were uninjured. Where the aircraft was repaired is not yet known.
Gull BGA.349 was built by Slingsby at Kirkbymoorside as Serial No.302 and registered in June 1938. It was owned by the Yorkshire Gliding Club when it crashed at Welburn.