Date:	Saturday 13 June 1953
Time:	18:45
Type:	Gloster Meteor NF Mk 11
Owner/operator:	264 (Madras Presidency) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WM258
MSN:	AWA/2160
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Eston Hills, 1 mile south of Eston Nab, near Eston, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Meteor WM258: On 13th June 1953 there was to be an exercise involving Meteors from 264 Squadron and aircraft from other squadrons over the Tees area. The weather however put paid to this and the exercise was cancelled.
The Meteors from 264 Sqdn were ordered to fly at 2,000 feet and exercise the defences at Thornaby and Ouston airfields. The pilot of this aircraft was the Squadron Commander, he ordered all other aircraft to descend through the cloud and dummy attack the targets at their discretion.

The Commander's aircraft would be the one to crash, at about 18.45 hours it flew into high ground on the Eston Hills, one mile south of Eston Nab, near Redcar, North Yorkshire sadly killing both crew.
The wreckage was spread over a wide area.
Crew:
S/Ldr (47118) James (Jim) LOMAS DFC, AFC and Bar (pilot) RAF - Killed
F/Lt (1903506) Bernard Noel Hanratty (nav.) RAF - Killed

Squadron Leader Jim Lomas was a very experienced pilot if not one of the RAF's best fighter pilots of his day. He was born on 15th February 1919, had joined the RAF in 1935 as a fifteen year old and worked his way up through the ranks. He received a commission in 1941 and had survived a number of war-time accidents and incidents. He flew Mosquitoes towards the latter part of the war and was widely known as a crack night-fighter pilot.

In November 1947 he was the pilot of a Meteor which flew from Turnhouse, Edinburgh to Bovingdon in Hertfordshire at a record speed of 617.6 MPH. The following statement adds some detail and is taken from "Wings over Linton" book by Peter D Mason:

"Jimmy Lomas was a most experienced and skilful pilot and a highly respected Station Commander. On this day the Station were involved in a major air exercise and in the late afternoon low cloud blew in off the North Sea which shrouded the North York Moors and Cleveland Hills down to 200 feet. 264 Squadron amongst other tasks had been detailed to deliver an attack on a battery of guns located somewhere on low ground in the Thornaby area, but because of the sudden deterioration in the weather, S/Ldr Lomas called up the sector to say that such an attack was no longer practicable. However after a discussion of the matter on the R/T with the Sector Commander, Lomas agreed to try and deliver the briefed attack himself so as not to disappoint the Army. On that day he was not flying with his own regular navigator. Due to a slight error in descending through the 8/8ths cloud cover the aircraft just clipped the lip of the steep escarpment at the Northern edge of the Moors and both crew were killed in the resulting crash. Group Captain M Pedley DSO OBE DFC was airborne at the time of the crash, after landing he went to the scene, it was stated that if Lomas's aircraft had been only a few feet higher it would have cleared the high ground in safety."

The reported crash location was one mile south of Eston Nab is a local landmark to those who live along the River Tees, in north-east England. A nab is a rocky promontory, or outcrop, and Eston Nab, marking the highest point – at 242 metres (794 ft) – on the escarpment which forms Eston Hills, which appears as a clear sandstone cliff on the northernmost edge of Eston Moor. It overlooks the town of Eston, which is part of Redcar and Cleveland, and can be seen from beyond Hartlepool on the northern side of Tees Bay.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.145 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1983, p.70)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.377
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WM
5. 264 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Mininstry Form AM/f.540) for the period 1/12/1951 to 31/15/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 27/2672/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426905
6. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/wm258.html
7. http://www.dtvmovements.co.uk/Archivesmonths/1988/1988%20-%20Dec.pdf
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eston_Nab
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eston#Eston_Hills

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jan-2015 03:06	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Apr-2015 21:05	Victor III	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
07-Jan-2016 21:12	JIXN	Updated [Operator]
30-Apr-2021 19:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
30-Apr-2021 19:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
30-Apr-2021 19:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
08-Aug-2022 05:40	Nepa	Updated [Time, Location, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]