Military Jet Crash at Frechville in the 50's

[wheaty]

Did we not call RAF Worksop RAF Manton at the time?

 

RAF Worksop was at Scrofton (between Worksop and Retford) and has been returned to agriculture, though you can still make out the main runway.

 

Several aircrew who were killed are at Manton cemetery but that is in the suburbs of Worksop.

 

Did you mean Gamston near Retford which was a small satellite airfield of Worksop?

[Puffin4]

Hi Wheaty,

 

Many thanks for your clarification on this matter. Of course there could not have been a station named Manton as there was already a Manston. The RAF had a policy of avoiding similar names to eliminate the possibility of thick aircrew trying to land at the wrong place. As an example, there is an airfield just down the road from me, outside a village called Connington. Because this could have been confused with Conningsby or Honnington, they named it RAF Glatton which was the next closest village, the other side of the A1 or Great North Road as it was at the time. This particular airfield was operated by the USAF although it now has the rather grand title of Peterborough Business Airport but it is only used by light aircraft.

 

To get back to Manton, I always thought it was rather odd that there was a pit where there should have been an airfield!

 

I certainly wasn't thinking of Gamston, I remember that when it was used for motor racing a rival, in those days, of Silverstone.

 

It was reported in the press at the time that Cohen stayed with his aircraft to avoid hitting houses but he was still bloody close to them. Early Meteors didn't have ejection seats but his was an F8 which was the first model to have them fitted as standard. I had a pal at CFS who was instructing on a meatbox when his student flew it into the ground. They had no chance of getting out.

 

Regards. M

[Puffin4]

Have just viewed RAF Worksop on Google Earth and agree that there is not much of it left. Unfortunately the resolution of the imagery is not very good in this area, a few miles north it is much better.

 

My curiosity is now satisfied.

 

Many thanks Wheaty

 

Mike

[alchresearch]

Have just viewed RAF Worksop on Google Earth and agree that there is not much of it left. Unfortunately the resolution of the imagery is not very good in this area, a few miles north it is much better.

 

You may find that the Microsoft VE is much better. If you go to FlashEarth you can view aerial photos from all the main providers. This is the link for Worksop:

 

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.324524&lon=-1.059245&z=14.8&r=0&src=msl

[Puffin4]

Many thanks for that link. Excellent quality; I'd like to see it in infra red or false colour though. Microsoft is less contrasty than Google, giving more shadow detail. Imagery appears to be older though.

 

Regards, M

[crookesey]

There were many air crashes on Kinder Scout, a lot of wreckage is still there.

[alchresearch]

Imagery appears to be older though.

 

That's true. Just surf a few miles northwest to Firbeck and the old aircraft museum. Google shows no places but VE shows them still there:

 

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.395452&lon=-1.148726&z=18.8&r=0&src=msl

[buck]

Sorry to pick up on an old thread, but I spoke to my Mum, and she remembered the crash. It was late evening, and she thinks it may have been an election night (was there an election around 1954?). The jet went very low over our prefab on Stradbroke Road, and crashed seconds later. (The crash site by Silkstone Crescent is about three quarters of a mile away, 9 seconds at (say) 400 mph.) For years after, there were oil stains on the wall of our prefab.

 

Mum said the papers had recorded the pilot's name as Cowen or Cohen, or similar. Whether he had the chance to eject is open to question (early ejector seats were only effective under certain flight conditions, and some Night Fighter and training versions of the Meteor didn't even have ejector seats), but it was generally regarded that he had fought to avoid the houses.

 

A sad event, I hope more comes to light, to remember this young man.

 

SH

As a Fleet Air Arm member at that time I remember that none of the meteors we had in the navy had ejector seats. I t would have been very difficult to get out without hitting the tail.

[Puffin4]

Somebody was looking for this thread, thought I would bring it forward.

[fox20thc]

I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

 

There was this one which killed my great aunty Elsie