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Military Jet Crash at Frechville in the 50's

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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.

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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!!!

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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??

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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

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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?

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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.

 

http://www.millthorpeaircrash.org.uk

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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.

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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.

 

http://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?

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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