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| Date: | Tuesday 30 May 1939 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Avro 631 Cadet |
| Owner/operator: | Major John Edward Durrant Shaw (regd. owner) |
| Registration: | G-ABVV |
| MSN: | 589 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Welburn Hall, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Welburn Hall, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Avro 631 Cadet: First registered (C of R 3698) 5.4.32 as G-ABVV to Major John Edward Durrant Shaw, Wellbourn Hall, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire. C of A 3411 issued 28.5.32.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) on 30th May 1939 Avro Cadet G-ABVV attempted to give an air-tow launch to a Slingsby Gull glider (BGA349) from Welburn aerodrome. This small airstrip belonged to Major Shaw, of Welburn Hall, who allowed Fred Slingsby and also the Yorkshire Gliding Club use of it. Major Shaw owned the Avro Cadet while the Yorkshire Gliding Club owned the glider. The take off was seen by witnesses on the ground to have been normal. Some four hundred yards beyond the lay some trees, as the aeroplane approached the trees it lost speed slightly, possibly after turning slightly to avoid the trees. The glider then began to outclimb the tug aeroplane which saw the tow cable slacken.
When the aeroplane levelled out and flying at a slower speed, the towing cable slack to the glider was taken up. This unfortunately saw the tail of the glider being pulled up by the faster flying glider. With this, control of the aeroplane was lost and it began to dive toward the ground until it was temporarily suspended by the glider. The weight on the glider's structure was too great and it began to break apart in the air, with the right wing failing. The aeroplane dived into the ground near Bowforth Farm almost vertically, while the pilot attempted to cast off the tow cable it was too late and too low to recover from the dive. The glider followed it down having began to break up in the air. Its pilot did not attempt to cast off the tow cable from the glider's end. Both pilots were died; the aeroplane pilot was killed instantly while the glider pilot died a short time later.
Various recommendations were made after this accident around glider pilots not loosing sight of tug aeroplanes, being prepared to release the cable immediately on take off, tug pilots not changing direction suddenly near the ground and tug pilots climbing away with the free hand on the cable release lever should the need be required to make an immediate release.
Tug aircraft pilot - Mr Montagu Scott McMurdo, aged 42, of Welburn, Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire. Buried Kirkdale Minster, Yorkshire.
Glider pilot - Mr Angus Oastler Pick, aged 31, of Leeming Bar, Yorkshire. Buried Bedale Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Montagu McMurdo was born on 27th October 1897 in Dublin, Ireland. He gained Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.9430) on 28th August 1930 at the London Aeroplane Club. Mr McMurdo was Major John Edward Durrant Shaw's private pilot and had flown for him for a number of years and was buried in the same private section of Kirkdale Cemetery set aside for the Shaw family. Major Shaw was not the pilot of the Cadet G-ABVV at the time it crashed on 30th May 1939 which is reported elsewhere on the internet. Major Shaw died on 21st April 1955 having lived at Welburn Hall, he was a keen supporter of civilian flying in Yorkshire and himself was a holder of a Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate. He also owned Avro 641 G-ACUG from 1934 until it was impressed by the RAF during WW2
Angus Pick was born on 22nd November 1908 at Thirkleby, Yorkshire. He gained Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate (Cert.No.12214) on 25th August 1934 at Yorkshire Air Services and at that time listed his occupation as a poultry farmer. He was a reasonably experienced glider pilot who held at least one glider endurance record. Richard Oastler Pick (who later served in the RAF in WW2) may well have been his brother and also Thomas Carner Pick and Richard Carver Pick (who also held Royal Aero Club certificates in the 1930s) may have been cousins.
Registration of Avro Cadet G-ABVV was belatedly cancelled by the Air Ministry ("Cancellation by Secretary of State, Air Ministry") on 1.12.46 after post war census of all surviving pre-war aircraft.
Sources:
1. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/component/content/article/15-aeroplanes/76-register-gb-g-ab
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ABVV.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A3.html
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
5. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorkp39/abvv.html
6. HOLDER OF GLIDING RECORD KILLED Dominion (Auckland NZ) Volume 32, Issue 209, 2 June 1939, Page 9: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19390602.2.93#text-tab
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkbymoorside
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Dec-2017 21:37 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 08-Dec-2017 21:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 08-Dec-2017 21:40 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 29-Jun-2024 22:01 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Operator, ] |
| 13-Aug-2025 05:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Category, ] |
| 15-Aug-2025 06:30 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, ] |
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