A Hawker Fury II.

This aircraft crashed into the sea wall at Whitby on the 14th of May 1937 after the pilot had attempted to force land the aircraft on the beach after he became lost in sea fog. The engine apparently stalled in a steep turn whilst he was avoiding cliffs. The pilot was seriously injured in the incident, he was found still strapped into his cockpit but was trapped in "a mass of twisted metal". Prior to the crash he was seen to fly over the harbour area and then head north and attempt the landing, he hit the sea wall head on. narrowly missing workmen. Two other RAF crashes that day were attributed to the same foggy conditions. The pilot sustained serious injuries to his head including the loss of an eye, he also had a broken leg. Fortunately the fuel did not catch fire preventing him from probable death. The crash was partly blamed on the formation leader, reasons for this are unclear due to an unreadable AM1180 crash card !

The aicraft was built to contract 419059/35 by General Aircfraft Ltd at Hanworth and delivered directly to 9 FTS on 24th July 1936. Following this incident it was originally given Cat R/FA damage but after assessment it was given as Cat W/FA and struck off charge on 18th August 1937.

Pilot - A/P/O S A Levenson RAF - seriously injured.

I suspect all trace of the aircraft is long gone, it is thought to have crashed onto this part of the beach.

The pilot had trained at 10 FTS, Perth prior to going to 9 FTS, Thornaby, he gained his Wings at Christmas 1936, prior to the crash he had clocked up a total of 144 hours flying time, 12 of which were on the Fury type. His long term fate is not known, althoug his eye injuries are believed to have prevented him flying again.