Mustang III KH569 at Hull.

During the morning of 24th July 1945 this 441 Squadron aircraft was flown on a cross country navigation exercise and the pilot took off from Molesworth airfield in Cambridgeshire at 10.40hrs. The full route the pilot was briefed to fly is not known other than Hull was almost certainly the first of the turning points as it is almost due north from Molesworth. A thunderstorm has passed close to Brough airfield shortly before this eventual incident occurred and so much was the danger there that all flying ceased between 10.50hrs and 12.15hrs, I find it likely that this played a major factor in what happened to Mustang KH569. At just after 11.00hrs the Mustang was first heard and then seen by a number of people in the Hull area. One witness was at RAF Sutton on Hull, toward the north-east of the city, he stated that he heard the aircraft's engine and believed that the aircraft was in a steep dive but as it was flying in cloud he could not initially see it. It was then seen through gaps in the cloud and that it was flying inverted at around 1,200 feet above the ground seemingly flying a loop. It was next seen to dive through cloud at a steep angle of around eighty degrees then went through cloud before being seen to make a turn and to alter the wing position but it continued to loose height. It continued to loose height and dived into the ground at a steep angle into the scrap yard of "Auto-Wreckers Ltd" Vulcan Street, off Clough Road, Hull. The aircraft went into the scrapyard's clinker surface to a few feet in depth and the pilot was killed instantly.

Work began almost immediately to recover the pilot, the aeroplane had crashed among some scrap lorries and two ended up on top of the crashed aircraft. These lorrys were removed and a digging operation began. The pilot's body was recovered by 21.00hrs the same day and taken to Leconfield airfield prior to onward burial. The scrap yard had a number of scrap double decker buses around the general vacinity of where the aircraft crashed and none sustained any crash damage indicating that the aircraft had dived into the ground at a steep angle.

Some witnesses on the ground stated that they believed the pilot may have been attempting low level aerobatics when the crash occurred. Even though the pilot's body was recovered with some difficulty it was noted that he was still clutching his maps in his left hand when he was found. It was therefore deemed unlikely that he would have been holding or looking at any maps had he intentionally been undertaking aerobatics so this was discounted. It was thought more likely that the pilot had lost control in turbulent flying conditions and as Brough had closed down because of a thunderstorm these were probably cumulonimbus clouds. He was inexperienced having just five hours flying time on the Mustang type and this was thought to have been a factor in loosing control in the conditions he had no experience flying in. He had also not been given recent practice in instrument or cloud flying.

Pilot - F/O Edward James McCabe RCAF (J/43858), aged 21, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H.K.14).

Edward McCabe was born on 19th April 1924 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of John and Mary (nee Meagher) McCabe. When he enlisted for RCAF service in Toronto on 17th November 1942 he was working as what he described in his service records as a manager for a fruit company, his father's occupation was given as a fruit distributor and it may well have been their family buisness. After training in Canada he was granted his Pilot's Wings and a commission on 7th April 1944. He then appears to have undertaken further training or possible staff pilot duties in Canada with No.1 O.T.U. and then No.8 O.T.U.. He left Canada for the UK in January 1945, being posted to No.56 O.T.U. for training in March 1945 and then to 441 Squadron on 18th July 1945.