Date:	Monday 26 November 1951
Time:	08:15
Type:	Avro Lincoln B Mk 2
Owner/operator:	CGS RAF
Registration:	RF500
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 15
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Molescroft Grange Farm, Grange Way, Beverley, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Jurby, Isle Of Man
Destination airport:	RAF Leconfield, North Yorkshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro Lincoln RF500 (Central Gunnery School): On 26th November 1951 this aircraft was being flown back to RAF Leconfield with the Station Rugby team on board, having played a match against the team at RAF Jurby on the Isle of Man. Which explains why there were an unusually large number of people on board - 15 in all, a crew of 4, and 11 passengers/rugby players.

The aircraft was coming into land at Leconfield when it stalled and side-slipped into the ground close to Molescroft Grange Farm, Grange Way, Beverley, North Yorkshire. RF500 came to rest alongside the Hull to Scarborough railway line at 08.15 hours and partly blocked the line. Peggy Farmer, Una Stork, Abram Stork and Laurence Bedford were all thanked for their help assistance in helping the injured men in the aircraft. Another aircraft was flying a similar course with the remaining players of the rugby team, this landed safely.

Of the fifteen people on board, two passengers/rugby players were killed, and thirteen others injured to varying degrees, from serious to slight. The two fatalities were:

Passenger/Rugby Player - Junior Technician Robert Taylor (584922) RAF - Killed
Passenger/Rugby Player - LAC Roy Edward Skeldon (2500676) RAF -Killed

The surviving crew members were:
Master Pilot Charles D. Lee (Pilot). Very seriously injured and later transferred by air to a hospital nr Oxford.
F/Sgt Donald Munrow (Singaller) - seriously injured
F/O Keith F Hopkins (Navigator) - seriously injured
F/Sgt John L. S. Robinson (Flight Engineer) - injured
Passengers:
S/Ldr Leslie Gordon Weldon Lilly, (36175), seriously injured.
LAC E. R. Hayes, Passenger/Rugby Player, seriously injured
LAC R. C. Marshall, Passenger/Rugby Player, seriously injured
AC1 E. A. Watkins, Passenger/Rugby Player, seriously injured
AC1 R. W. Reaney, Passenger/Rugby Player, seriously injured
AC1 J. Sowden, Passenger/Rugby Player, injured
LAC R. Smith, Passenger/Rugby Player
LAC E. Rawson, Passenger/Rugby Player, seriously injured
AC1 B. Mortimer. Passenger/Rugby Player, injured

Probable cause: It was determined that the weight and balance was outside the flying envelope at the time of the accident. Also, a low approach speed contributed to the stall of the aircraft, which was considered as a contributory factor. The basic cause of the stall, which happened when the flaps were lowered fully at 500 feet on finals, was that the passengers and moveable load were distributed in such a way that the aircraft's Centre of Gravity went outside limits when the flaps were lowered for landing

Leslie Gordon Lilly was granted a short service commission in the RAF on 15th March 1939 as P/O (with seniority back dated to 4th January 1939). He rose to F/O on 3rd September 1940 (with seniority back dated to 4th August 1940) and to F/Lt exactly a year later. He then rose to S/Ldr (war subs) on 1st September 1942 and was still this rank when, on 15th March 1944, he transferred to the RAF Reserve and was called up for service immediately almost certainly so he could transferred to the RNZAF as a day later he was granted a commission in the RNZAF. Postwar he transferred back to the RAF and remained in the service for many years. On 16th May 1949 he was appointed to a permanent commission to the rank of F/Lt (with seniority backdated to 4th April 1948) and was transferred to the Equipment Branch on this appointment. He was in the Equipment Branch when he rose to S/Ldr on 1st July 1953. He commanded 62 Squadron in Malaya in 1942 and later commanded 353 Squadron in 1944. As S/Ldr he retired from the RAF on 2nd September 1961

In 1991 Keith Hopkins arranged a dinner for the people who had assisted in the rescue of those involved

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings - Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.199
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Avro_Lincoln#1950s
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-694-lincoln-b2-raf-leconfield-2-killed
6. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/rf500.html
7. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/449952-raf-lincoln-crash-near-leconfield-yorks-25-november-1951-a.html
8. https://www.molesfarm.co.uk/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
30-Aug-2009 05:27	TWatkins	Updated
30-Apr-2013 21:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
06-Jan-2015 20:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Jan-2015 21:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-May-2015 07:21	Unitex	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
15-Feb-2021 00:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
15-Feb-2021 09:44	harry	Updated [Operator, Operator]
15-Feb-2021 23:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
15-Feb-2021 23:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
15-Feb-2021 23:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
16-Feb-2021 10:21	harry	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
16-Feb-2021 21:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
11-Apr-2024 17:49	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]