ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 153737
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| Date: | Monday 9 March 1959 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T Mk 11 |
| Owner/operator: | 1 FTS RAF |
| Registration: | XE854 |
| MSN: | 15594 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Allotments off Westfield Road, Parkgate, near Rotherham, South Yorkshi -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Linton-on-Ouse (EGXU), North Yorkshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Crashed and destroyed 9/3/1959: The pilot had indulged in unauthorised low flying outside the local flying area in order to fly over his parents house in Rotherham, Yorks. He entered cloud and became disorientated. The aircraft left the cloud in a dive, struck the ground and exploded killing the pilot (Midshipman Ian Ferguson Wilson)
XE854 crashed on the outskirts of the built-up district of Rawmarsh and Parkgate, near Rotherham, narrowly missing the tower of Rawmarsh Parish Church. The site was then known as Waggon Lane, and the aircraft crashed into allotments.
Burning wreckage was scattered over a wide area and part of the undercarriage was embedded in the thick stone wall of a house about 25-yards away, occupied by Mr. Horace Hammond who was thrown under the table by the explosion and a wheel from the aircraft, which smashed into his back door.
Mrs. Rose Fieldhouse, of Westfield Road, Parkgate, who was looking through her kitchen window when the jet crashed about 30-yards from her house, said: "I am sure the pilot was making for the fields to miss the houses when he found he was in trouble." Other witnesses agreed.
The Admiralty said later that the pilot was Midshipman Ian Ferguson, of Herringthorpe Valley Road, Rotherham, who was flying solo while undergoing initial training with the Fleet Air Arm at Linton-on-Ouse. He had 23 hours' flying experience in Vampires.
The impact crater was later turned into a memorial garden, with the pilots ashes interred beneath a memorial plaque in the garden. In 2010 a new £40,000 memorial was established after funding via Rotherham Borough Council, the RAF Association and the Royal British Legion.
Sources:
1. https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dhvampire/conversations/topics/19
2. http://peakwreckhunters.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/de-havilland-vampire-t11-xe854.html
3. http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk/h/extracts/1959.htm
4. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/499573-late-1958-early-1959-crash-near-sheffield-derbyshire-doncaster.html
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1959.htm
6. South Yorkshire Times - March 14th 1959 (entire front-page and a large portion of back page).
Images:
Midshipman Ian Ferguson Wilson
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Mar-2013 08:37 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 06-Mar-2013 12:02 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 21-Mar-2014 01:26 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 21-Mar-2014 01:27 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 07-Dec-2018 13:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator] |
| 10-Jan-2020 19:01 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 13-Jan-2021 16:00 | asw15pilot | Updated [Narrative] |
| 08-May-2022 06:09 | Anon. | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Photo] |
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