Date:	Sunday 24 June 1934
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Moth
Owner/operator:	Scarborough Aero Club Co Ltd
Registration:	G-AACO
MSN:	874
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	East Heslerton, near Malton, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Ganton, East Heslerton, Malton, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no. 874: DH.60G [Gipsy I] registered G-AACO [C of R 1804] 2.11.28 to John W.P. Chalmers, Stag Lane; named "Cygnet". C of A 1683 issued 20.11.28. Sold [after 6.30 but before 10.30) to Walter F Rickard, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire [but probably operated by his co-owned business, Rollason Aviation Co, Croydon]. C of A lapsed 29.11.30. Reported as registered in 10.31 to Surrey Flying Services Ltd, Croydon [but more likely to Rollason Aviation Co]; C of A renewed 22.12.31.

Operated (by 3.33) by [Rollason subsidiary] South Downs Aero Club, Ford, Sussex; still named "Cygnet". Registered [C of R 4776] 25.11.33 to Scarborough Aero Club Co Ltd, Ganton, East Heslerton, near Malton, North Yorkshire.

This aircraft was one of two Gipsy Moth aircraft owned by the Scarborough Aero Club and who based their aircraft at their aerodrome near East Heslerton, both aircraft were flown by their club members. During the evening of Sunday, 24.6.34, DH Gipsy Moth G-AACO was being flown around the area of the club site near East Heslerton by a young pilot when it dived into a field from around 800 feet. Upon crashing, the wreckage caught fire, and although it was witnessed by a number of people driving along the A64 road, none could attempt to rescue the pilot, because of the intense fire that resulted. In all probability, he was killed instantly in the crash.

No accident report has yet been found to add much detail into the incident. I have located a number of local newspapers reports which detail the accident and later the inquest into the pilot's death. In these reports the pilot was described as being an expert in aerobatics, but because of his young age he was not permitted to undertake cross country solo flights so had to stay in the area of the aerodrome. I guess that he was practicing aerobatics just before the crash. During his inquest his father stated that he suffered from nosebleeds and it was considered a possibility that he had suffered one in the air, blood was found to have risen into his goggles effecting his visibility and he may have lost control while trying to clear his vision. He did not recover control before it crashed.

The pilot was cremated in Hull and his ashes later scattered from an aeroplane over the Scarborough airfield at which he learnt to fly a few days later. He is probably the youngest pilot ever to have died in a flying accident in the UK. As a direct result of this incident, the law was amended so that no-one under the age of 17 was allowed to pilot an aircraft (a restriction that continues to this day)

Pilot - Mr Gerald Henry Lawson Royle, aged 16, of 32 Crown Lane Gardens, Streatham Common, North London, SW16. Registration G-AACO cancelled by/on 31.12.34.

Gerald Royle had begun flying at the age of thirteen and he was described by instructors to have been an exceptional pilot who had learnt quicker than other students. He made his first solo flight around the time of his fourteenth birthday but his instructor stated that he could have made it earlier had it not being for his age; fourteen was the minimum age at the time. Despite his young age he had also flown an auto-gyro (probably a Cierva C.19 at Hanworth) and was also believed to have been the youngest pilot on record at the time. Because of his age he was unable to take his "A" Class certificate until he was seventeen years old, this prevented him from leaving the area of the aerodrome when flying solo. The Scarborough club permitted him to fly their aircraft in the area of the aerodrome and he had been on a flying holiday at the site when the accident occurred. He was cremated in Hull in the days after the accident and a member of the Scarborough Aero Club was asked by his family to scatter his ashes over the East Heslerton aerodrome site. In the weeks after his death the Air Ministry changed the regulations which blocked children from flying solo; from then on pilots had to be a minimum of seventeen years old to solo.

Gerald Royle's father was George Royle, he had been the lessee of the well-known Floral Hall, above the North Bay, in Scarborough since 1910 setting up a well-known "Fol-de-Rols" theatre/pantomime show. He had also been one of the passengers in an aircraft Bentfield Hucks flew from the beach in 1912. He went to South Africa during the Second World War with ENSA but had moved to New Zealand in 1948 where his other son lived. George Royle died in New Zealand in December 1957 and his wife died there just five days later.

An inquest was held in Scarborough on 16th July 1934 by the East Riding Coroner, Mr Holtby. However, all pre-1954 East Riding inquests were destroyed some years ago so this vital piece of information has been destroyed.

1. Geraldton Guardian and Express (Geraldton, Western Australia) Tuesday 26 Jun 1934 Page 3 YOUNG PILOT KILLED: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67230254
2. Ryedale Gazette & Herald 23 May 2002: A piece of Norton's history at https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/6666259.a-piece-of-nortons-history/
3. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
4. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AACO.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A.html
6. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1934.htm
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-malton-1-killed
8. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york34/aaco.html
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p008.html
10. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/gb-registers-g-aa/g-aa-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWFhY3UiXQ==
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Heslerton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Nov-2017 22:22	Dr. John Smith	Added
07-Nov-2023 08:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Category, ]
19-May-2024 09:40	Nepa	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
28-Jul-2025 17:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]