This is one incident that my webpage cannot really do justice on, for reasons that will become clear the actions of one man on this flight deserve much more modern recognition than will be shown on this webpage.

Leeming was using the Martinet aircraft as a target aircraft for crews training in the use of the interception radar in the Wellington. Cadets from 1869 (Middlesbrough) Sqdn ATC were visiting Leeming in August 1951 during their summer camp and the boys were being given flights in both aircraft to demonstrate such techniques. In the mid afternoon of the 13th of August 1951 such a training flight was being carried out. Each aircraft were carrying one ATC Cadet each and any other day such a flight would have been a fantastic experience for these young boys. There were three trainee navigators on the Wellington, all taking turns in doing the interceptions. One of these was no novice, F/Lt Quinton had been a night-fighter navigator who was awarded the DFC in 1946 but was retraining at the time of this accident. He had been de-mobbed after the War but had found civi-life hard and after five years had re-applied for a short-service commission. For him this training flight would have been very much run of the mill and really only a refresher course.

The Martinet took off and flew away in one direction, a short time later the Wellington took off with seven on board and flew off in the opposite direction. The radar operators would then guide their pilot to the Martinet to practice their skills. Both aircraft were flying at between 8-10,000 feet and free of cloud but without warning cloud closed in and the Martinet appeared out of the cloud and too close to the Wellington, its wing struck the Wellington. The Martinet then went into a dive and crashed killing the two crew, with its the ATC Cadet was sadly killed. Both probably stood no chance of being able to get out. The Wellington went into an uncontrollable spin and began to break up in midair. By the time of the colliosn the Cadet and F/Lt Quinton had taken up a position in the astrodome, Quinton had carried out his part of the exercise and had moved to one side to let one of the others have their turn. From their position the Wellington had begun to break up towards the tail. In the Wellington parachutes aircrew other than pilots wore harnesses but their parachutes were left stowed nearby and then clipped onto the chest should they be needed. F/Lt Quinton picked up the only available parachute pack from its stowage nearby. He clipped it on ATC Cadet Derek Coates' harness. He jestured to the Cadet how to deploy his parachute and then pushed him through a hole where the tail section of the aircraft was once attached and thus clear of the crashing aircraft. Such an action then prevented F/Lt Quinton's own survival, further parachutes were stowed in the rear of the aircraft and were by now impossible to get to. F/Lt Quinton would have known this. The aircraft crashed in fields around Hudswell, near Catterick, North Yorkshire and sadly the six remaining aircrew were killed in the crash. In all eight were killed in the collision. In the days after the crash the surviving cadet identified F/Lt Quinton as being the one who saved his life. For this act of sacrifice it earned F/Lt John Quinton DFC a posthumous George Cross, which was awarded two months after the accident. The same page in the London Gazette also details the efforts carried out by SAC Malcolm Brown of RAF Kinloss who was awarded the BEM for his efforts in respect of the the Lancaster which crashed on Beinn Eighe in Scotland. This incident is also covered in this website.

Pilot - F/O Peter Frederick Keeling RAF (582152), aged 22, of Southend on Sea, Essex. Buried Leeming, Yorkshire.

? - F/O George Michael Trotman RAF (1606829), aged 27, of Wooton under Edge, Glocs. Buried Painswick, Glocs.

Student Navigator - F/Lt John Alan Quinton (115714) GC, DFC, aged 30, of Lewisham, London. Buried Leeming, Yorkshire.

? - P/O Frank Leslie Farrell RAF (582254), aged 22, of Docking, Norfolk. Buried Hessle Cemetery, Hull.

? - P/O Edwin George Percival Garratt RAF (2436405), aged 20, of Tooting, London. Buried Leeming, Yorkshire.

? - F/O Dawyck George McLeod Veitch R(Aux)AF (178711), aged 37, of Harrogate, Yorkshire. Buried Wilford Hill Cemetery, Nottingham.

Cadet Derek Coates ATC, aged 16, of Middlebrough. Survived.

F/Lt John Quinton GC DFC and his gravestone at Leeming Churchyard, Yorkshire. He was born in London in 1921, a keen Scout he attended the World Jamboree in Holland in 1937 and the following year in Switzerland. He joined the RAF in 1941 flying in night-fighters he was commissioned in 1942 and was awarded the DFC flying with Mosquitos with 604 Sqdn in 1944. Later as a Sqdn Ldr he served in India and the Far East before leaving the RAF in 1946. Back in civi-life he married and had a son, he also took up a role as Scout Leader in North London; his old troop. Unable to rejoined the RAF under his old rank he took the rank of F/Lt in 1951. His George Cross was presented to his widow by HM The Queen on 27th February 1952, the first such award of her reign. His medals are on display in the Imperial War Museum.

The Quinton Trophy named in honour of F/Lt John Quinton was a trophy initially awarded at RAF Halton to the highest marks achieved by ATC Cadets, since the closure of this station it is now awarded at RAF Cranwell. There is also a memorial at Whetstone United Reform Church. Middlesbrough ATC building is also named after him.