Plane crash near Grimston

Here is a brief childhood memory from Fred Homewood

'When I was at Ferneley High School in the 1970s (1971-1974) sometime between 1971 and 1973 a plane was hit by lightning over the school. It crashed on the embankment near Grimston and apparently (according to the news at the time) narrowly missed the APT-E. It slid down the embankment on the Northern side and ended up on the test track.

It must have been about 12 noon as I was just on my way home across the fields towards Nottingham Road for lunch. The pilot ejected and I was the first to get to him, he was all cut up on the head but could walk alright. The plane had passed over my parents house on Alvaston Road, I asked him about it and he said he'd pointed into some woods. (I guessed Dalby Woods).

A couple of days later, my dad took me and a couple of brothers over to Dalby/Grimston and we went down the track. The wreckage had been cleared but I did pick up a piece of aluminium fuselage.'

 

The official records indicate that the aircraft had flown from RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire

07/06/1974 XG130 61 Hunter FGA9 45 Sqn The pilot (Flt. Lt. I. C. Firth) lost control of the aircraft after becoming disorientated while in cloud and ejected. The aircraft crashed near to a railway tunnel at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

 

Hawker Hunter

 Hawker Hunter XG160 in happier times

Peter Middlebrook

Further info from a recent post on Facebook:-

How many remember the RAF Hawker Hunter that crashed over the town?
The pilot ejected in fog and landed in the John Ferneley School grounds. We kids ran out of lessons to see the fuss, I remember a helicopter came to pick the pilot up, The plane ended up near a derelict house and its engine carved a furrow in the British Rail Test track just after the new HST had entered a tunnel. My dad went to the crash site and "claimed" a piece of wreckage for a souvenir. I recall he said the area was being guarded by RAF personnel from Wittering.

and from a book on the Hawker Hunter, http://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1430305932 p108:-

Wisbeach 11.58. Returned to HSA, 02.04.59. Converted to FGA Mk9, which involved installing a full tropical kit, gun blast deflectors, stronger inboard pylons. Explosive Release Units on the outboard pylons, braking parachute and fitting of an Avon 207 engine. No:1 Sqn., ('E') No.54 Sqn., No.208 Sqn., ('C'). 04-11-69 to 01-07-70 To No.5MU, Kemble, No.45 Sqn.Wittering delivered 1971. Crashed into a wooded area close to a derelict house near Melton Mowbray in low cloud/fog after pilot disorientation. Engine landed on British Rail Test Track shortly after a new High Speed 125 train has passed and entered tunnel. Guard on train felt bang, looked back and saw the engine on the track. Pilot ejected safely-landing in local school yard. Crash guard sent overnight from Wittering. Wreckage cleared by RAF Benson crash recovery team the next day. Some wreckage still buried deep in impact area. W/O 07/06/74.

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