Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 VZ418 of No.205 Advanced Flying School, RAF, crashed on Burn Moor in the Forest of Bowland on the 10th July 1951

Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 at the MIdland Air Museum, Coventry

John Valentine Pilot Officer Pilot Killed

 

On Tuesday 10th July 1951 Pilot Officer Valentine, a 25 year old trainee pilot with just under 200 hours of flying experience, took off from RAF Middleton St George near to Darlington for a training flight where he would practice making high speed turns at a moderate to high altitude. Around 70 minutes into the flight at 11:53 the aircraft was seen to dive into the ground on Burn Moor, a hill in the North East of the Forest of Bowland, a few miles west of the town of Settle and explode.

Crash site of Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 VZ418 on Burn Moor, North Yorkshire
The crash site of VZ418 on the Yorkshire side of Burn Moor. It is marked by a large crater in the moorland similar to many other aircraft of this type lost in such circumstances.

At the time the weather was reasonable with scattered cloud and some light showers about, but the cloud base was above the hills according to the weather report from Squires Gate.  A fairly deep area of low pressure had travelled across the UK in the preceding 12 hours with its associated weather fronts having moved out into the North Sea.

Wreckage at the crash site of Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 VZ418 on Burn Moor, North Yorkshire
An engine conbustion chamber liner from one of the aircraft’s two Rolls Royce Derwent turbojet engines in the crater at the crash site.

The cause of the crash was not positively determined, only that a loss of control had occurred, even the timing of it being before or after the dive began was not known. At the time P/O Valentine would have been using the aircraft’s onboard oxygen supply and the cause was speculated as possible anoxia due to insufficient oxygen. His remains were recovered from the crash site and he was buried at Methilhill Cemetery in Fife.

Wreckage at the crash site of Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 VZ418 on Burn Moor, North Yorkshire
Scattered across the moorland around the crash site are numerous parts of the aircraft, including further engine parts.

This crash came just three weeks after another Meteor from the same unit had dived into the ground less than 10 miles away between Ribblehead and Ingleton in almost identical circumstances. At the time the Meteor fleet being used by flying training units was suffering almost weekly fatal losses, many from loss of control.

Wreckage at the crash site of Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 VZ418 on Burn Moor, North Yorkshire
Further scattered wreckage including some undercarriage parts.
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References: Form 1180, RAF Museum, Craven Herald, Manchester Evening News, Yorkshire Post, Met Office Daily Weather Report Archive