Jet Provost T. Mk.5A XW371 of No.7 Flying Training School crashed in Roeburndale near Lancaster on the 3rd July 1979

 

Thomas Durk Bayliff Flight Lieutenant Pilot Killed

 

The pilot was a cross country navigation flight from RAF Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire. He was flying east from Lancaster across the northern end of the Forest of Bowland when the aircraft struck the ground on farmland to the south of Wray. The impact blasted a crater in the field and scattered wreckage for some distance beyond, Flt Lt Bayliff was killed instantly.

Crash site of BAC Jet Provost XW371 at High Salter, Lancaster, Lancashire
The crash gouged a large crater in the pasture land, which even 33 years later was still evident as the shallow depression shown in the foreground. The items at the far end of the crater are not aircraft related.
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Durk Bayliff's grave at Kirkby Wharfe St John Church, Tadcaster, Yorkshire
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Bayliff was buried in the churchyard at Kirkby Wharfe, close to RAF Church Fenton.
Image Copyright: Richard Allenby Yorkshire Aircraft