Avro Cadet and Slingsby Gull BGA349 at Bowforth Farm, Welburn.

On the 30th of May 1939 Avro Cadet G-ABVV was giving an air-tow to a Slingsby Gull gilder, BGA349. On take off from Welburn Hall (Shaw's Airstrip) the tug pilot got his aircraft out of position, this resulted in the glider rising too high and the tail of the tug aircraft lifted with it. The end result was it caused both aircraft become incontrolable and they both dived into the ground soon after. Both pilots were killed.

The Avro Cadet was built by A.Roe at Newton Heath as Serial No. 589 and registered to Major John E. Durrant Shaw on 5th April 1932. It's C of A was issued on 28th May 1932. It sustained Cat W/FA damage in the incident detailed above but its registration was only cancelled in the 1946 post WW2 census on 1st December 1946. Graham Sharpe informs me that, although claimed elsewhere, this was not the only Cadet registered in civil hands, in fact all were operated by civilian operators, mostly by flying schools training RAF pilots. G-ABYC was registered to Charles E. Gardner and was used to win the Yorkshire Trophy Race at Sherburn on 16th July 1933 and later the Sherburn Short Handicap on 29th August 1934. G-ABVV was powered by a seven cylinder Genet Major engine. On 10th July 1937 the aircraft was being flown from Frankfurt to Wasserkuppe in Germany with Mr McMurdo as pilot and Mr Fred Slingsby as passsenger. A large sail plane meeting was taking place near Hamburg with the sailplanes from this mountain, the heighest in the Rohn Mountains in Central Germany. A number of Slingsby's machines being used by the British team in these international championships. One presumes the Cadet was either taken by road or rail to Germany or had been flown across the channel in the weeks prior to this date. On 10th July "thick weather forced them to make a hurried landing in a field at Fulda" (so Flight magazine stated at the time). The aircraft sustained serious damage but the occupants were uninjured. Where the aircraft was repaired is not yet known.

Tug Aircraft Pilot - Mr Montagu Scott McMurdo, aged 42, of Welburn, Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire. Buried Kirkdale Minster.

Glider Pilot - Mr Angus Ostler Pick, aged 31, of Leeming Bar, Yorkshire. Buried ?

Montagu McMurdo, the pilot gravestone at Kirkdale Churchyard, North Yorkshire. One source states the pilot killed was also the aircraft's owner; Major John E D Shaw. This is not the case, Major Shaw died on 21st April 1955. He lived at Welburn Hall prior to his death. His gravestone in the same private section of Kirkdale Cemetery proves this. Mr McMurdo was Major Shaw's private pilot and had flown for him for a number of years. He gained Aviators' Certificate (number 9430) in October 1930 in London.