Does anyone remember or have information about a RAF airplane crash in the 50's which just missed Frecheville garage and came down in a field on the other side of Birley Moor road? I was a kid at the time and remember seeing some of the wreckage and a policeman standing guard. It may have been about '55 but I have not been able to find any details.

Try searching the forum for 'frecheville'. I found a topic about war time Frecheville at: http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4025&highlight=Frecheville

There are others too - good luck.

i would also be intrested inany information as a spent a few years livin in frecheville recently. Could you be more specific to where it landed/crashed?

the plane crash youre talking about is the one i think that crash landed in the field just on the corner of silkstone crescent... towards the path that goes thru the field to birley spa school .my family used to live there and saw it all ..the pilot ejected to safety..

Thanks for your help on this one Nitelife. Looks like you got it in one. It is great to hear that the pilot did escape safely as this was something I wasn't sure about. I remember being amazed that the plane came down on a small patch of clear land with houses on both sides of it. Any idea what year that was?
Thanks also Geoff for your input.

hi possibly very late 50#s or very early 60's ........not exactly sure ..ill ask my family!

I seem to have a distant memory that it was a Meteor twin engined jet, can't remember any details though.

Does anyone know if there's any pics?

im trying to gather more information from my family who saw it all ...ill get back to you

There may have been a report in the newspaper I guess about this accident? I have a feeling that it was a Meteor also. Perhaps based at Finningley?

no its def what i said .....my family saw it all mate.it was a plane ...

Originally posted by nitelife40
no its def what i said .....my family saw it all mate.it was a plane ...

A meteor is a type of plane mate. It was used by the RAF between 1948-1972. Primarily as a trainer.There was a sqnd based at Finningley near doncaster.

Do you know the year Nitelife? or any other info?

I think the year was 1954. It was a late summer evening around 9.30pm. The jet ( A Gloster Meteor) came over Frecheville from the Gleadless/ Base Green direction and one engine was on fire as it came down. The pilot was a 19 year old trainee on his first solo night flight. He was killed in the crash as the fuel ignited on impact and burning wreckage was spread all around the field opposite the BP Garage on Birley Moor Road. There was speculation that he had deliberately stayed with the plane to steer away from the houses into the open area. There used to be a memorial stone in the garden at the top of the footpath down to the housing estate but it appears to have been removed.

Big Thanks Haganite. Your information about this incident has helped me clear up a mystery that I have had at the back of my mind for the past 50 years! It is a good feeling to know that others can respond with what does appear to fit in with some things I had forgotton. Like the speculation about the pilot staying with the plane to avoid the houses and the direction of the flightpath.
I remember thinking as a kid that he must have just cleared the garage on the way down. I do remember the cops telling us kids to clear off! I didn't know about the memorial and it is a pity that it "dissapeared".
As this tragic event, in which I like to believe that the young pilot did a courageous thing by avoiding further casualties, happened 50 years ago '54 to 2004 ; wouldn't it be fitting if the local community (Frecheville/ Birley) or the City Council were to re establish a memorial of some kind?? I mean this could have been one outstanding individual act of bravery! Let's face it he probably had a choice. They were fitted with ejection seat I believe. Food for thought!!!

I don't usually post on these forums but this subject has stirred me as I used to live on Silkstone Road which is near where this happened. I used to play on there for years as a kid and I had no idea that this was where some young fella crashed a Jet plane. I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

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

Originally posted by LedZeppelin
I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

Well, there's the infamous B-17 crash in Endcliffe park. I can't remember specifically which year of the war it was but the story is similar to our friend in the Meteor.

The pilot and crew were limping a sick plane home and had found that they were going to have to it set down. They picked the nearest big green space they could see but when they got low they realised that people were in the park. They pulled up knowing full well that they weren't going to clear the hill up towards Ranmoor and that, as they say, was that.

There it a plaque to the crew set on a big rock behing the stepping stones in the park. I still think poppies are laid there every year. Anyone know of any others?

The plane was a Gloseter Meteor F8 No. WE916 and crashed at 11.22pm on Thursday 26th May 1955 whilst on a night flight training excercise from RAF Worksop.

The pilot was 21 year old John Alexander Cohen from Cardiff and apparently lost control whilst undertaking a controlled descent though cloud.

The pilot was killed instantly as the plane dived steeply into the ground and exploded on impact in the field at the bottom of Silkstone Crescent.

I have copies of the crash investigation report, police and witness statements plus photographs.

Check my website for details of another Meteor Crash in the area just two weeks prior at Millthorpe, Holmesfield and our efforts to provide a memorial to the pilot who was killed.

www.millthorpeaircrash.org.uk

Check also this link to the thread about a USAF F-84 Thunderstreak that ran out of fuel over Hathersage Moor and crashed into Lodge Moor Hospital, killing a patient and wounding several others...

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10336
(page two contains the salient facts)

The pilot bailed out safely in this instance.

The plane was a Gloseter Meteor F8 No. WE916 and crashed at 11.22pm on Thursday 26th May 1955 whilst on a night flight training excercise from RAF Worksop.

The pilot was 21 year old John Alexander Cohen from Cardiff and apparently lost control whilst undertaking a controlled descent though cloud.

The pilot was killed instantly as the plane dived steeply into the ground and exploded on impact in the field at the bottom of Silkstone Crescent.

I have copies of the crash investigation report, police and witness statements plus photographs.

Check my website for details of another Meteor Crash in the area just two weeks prior at Millthorpe, Holmesfield and our efforts to provide a memorial to the pilot who was killed.

www.millthorpeaircrash.org.uk

I actually saw this crash happen, from afar. I was standing in the garden of my home at Richmond when I saw the flash and then heard the explosion. The following day, I walked across the fields to see what had happened but was denied access to the site by the RAF guard. I would agree with all details given above as I remember them from the press report. I would have been 16 years old at the time. Did we not call RAF Worksop RAF Manton at the time?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

SHAs 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.

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

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

There was this one (http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/fox20thc/archive061.jpg)which killed my great aunty Elsie

I don't usually post on these forums but this subject has stirred me as I used to live on Silkstone Road which is near where this happened. I used to play on there for years as a kid and I had no idea that this was where some young fella crashed a Jet plane. I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

Apologies for reviving this but I'm helping someone who is researching plane crashes around the sheffield area and he would be grateful if anyone can add to or give information about the following-

Bristol F2b crash at Treeton 1920's
Hawker Audax (or Hart etc) at Dyche Lane late 1938/9
Handley Page Hampden x2 Concorde Park. One crashed, one landed & later recovered.
Gloster Meteor at Frecheville as mentioned earlier in the thread
Gloster Meteor at Treeton
Republic Thunderchief at Lodge Moor Hospital

and not in Sheffield
McDonnell F4 Phantom at Unthank, Chesterfield
Short Stirling at North Anston

Many thanks

Anything you need to know about aircrashes in the Sheffield area can be found in the three books by Pat Cunningham. 1) Peakland Air Crashes the North, 2) the South, and 3) the Central area. The ones you are looking for are in the Central Area edition. Published by Landmark Publishing and available in WH Smith.

Thanks. I'll pass that on, but I think he's probably aware. He's just casting his research net a bit wider in an attempt to get hold of as much information as possible. I know he's been trawling through local newspapers, libraries and official reports but he's now after more personal accounts

As a matter of interest I've been up several times in Meteor T7s and T22s and neither had ejector seats - this was in 1958.

If you had to get out the routine was release canopy, unbuckle safety harness, stand on seat facing aft and attempt to dive between mainplane and tailplane.

Thankfully I never had the need to do this but the drill is firmly impressed in my mind.

As a matter of interest I've been up several times in Meteor T7s and T22s and neither had ejector seats - this was in 1958.

If you had to get out the routine was release canopy, unbuckle safety harness, stand on seat facing aft and attempt to dive between mainplane and tailplane.

Thankfully I never had the need to do this but the drill is firmly impressed in my mind.

Funnily enough, only yesterday we were talking to an ex meteor pilot who had been told, during training, that the drill for exiting a meteor was 'put your head between your legs and kiss your backside goodbye' and, he said that information was thought to be as useful as the official instruction.:)

I am too young to remember the crash but up to 16 years old we lived on silkstone crescent,and used to play on those fields,there were two i think massive holes that we uesd to make dens in,and we were told is was haunted by that pilot.We used to be terrified that he would come and as I got older thought whole thing was rubbish NOW I KNOW ITS NOT whoo hooo spooky thanks for this information.

I remember the crash even tho I was real little....I lived in Normanton Springs.
It was at night and wasn't allowed to go and see even tho my older siblings did. Everyone was shocked and talked about how brave the pilot was to steer plane away from houses. We kids stayed away from crash site for years.

I am too young to remember the crash but up to 16 years old we lived on silkstone crescent,and used to play on those fields,there were two i think massive holes that we uesd to make dens in,and we were told is was haunted by that pilot.We used to be terrified that he would come and as I got older thought whole thing was rubbish NOW I KNOW ITS NOT whoo hooo spooky thanks for this information.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the crash, but I remember in the 70's playing with my cousins on some land at the back of Longstone Crescent and Fox lane and I can remember there being large holes on this land, my cousins used to call these the 'bomb holes', anyone know what did actually cause them.

I remember the my parents telling me that they had just gone to bed when they heard the noise of the plane crashing in the field opposite the garage at Frechville. My dad jumped out of bed and ran from Thornbridge Crescent down to Birley Moor Road to see what had happened in his Pyjamas.

And what exactly had happened in his pyjamas?:D

Sorry Grammer a bit out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry Magsby, just me being a bit facetious; the old Nether Edge Grammar School will out! Add to that, half a lifetime in the RAF and that is the basis of my sense of humour.

I did actually witness the crash and have commented upon it earlier in the thread. I was a youth of about 14 or 15 and was in the back garden of my home at Richmond when the aircraft came over very low and making a bit of a racket. Seconds later there was a boom and flames over in Frecheville.

Regards,

Mike

Thought this to be a friendly site. No other comment from me on this subject!!!!!

Hi Magsby,

I was not trying to be unfriendly, quite the opposite. My sincere apologies if I have acted outside the bounds of your expectations of the site.

Regards,

Mike

I seem to remember it was a jet belonging to the American Airforce it came down on the land next to the tram track where it crosses Birley Moor Road. I remember it because I had a piece of the wreckage. I was at Frecheville school at the time. It was said the pilot had engine problems and wanted to avoid hitting any houses, I think he died in the crash.