Date:	Tuesday 16 September 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	VT127
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Carnaby, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Driffield, East Yorkshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VT127, 203 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF: delivered 24/3/1948. Written off 16/09/1952 when crashed at Carnaby, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. The pilot was carrying out flying practice for the upcoming RAF Battle of Britain Air Display at RAF Driffield. The Meteor had carried out six fast low level runs along the runway at RAF Carnaby, at altitudes as low as 150-feet. The practice was being carried out at nearby Carnaby so as not to interfere with routine flying at Driffield.

On the seventh low-level run, and while abreast of the Air Traffic Control Tower, the Meteor climbed steeply into cloud, and a few seconds later, emerged from cloud diving at an acute angle over the perimeter at Carnaby. The Meteor seemed to recover from the dive, but then "mushed" into the ground, breaking up and leaving a trail of wreckage for 500-yards.
Working on the perimeter at Carnaby were a number of RAF-employed civilians, using a tractor and a lorry to refurbish an area of concrete. Part of the wreckage struck Air Ministry workman Mark Harrison,37, from Market Weighton, killing him instantly, who was stood next to the lorry. A woman working within a hut the men were using was also hurt, but survived. Four other workmen were treated for severe shock.
The pilot of the Meteor died instantly, and was found still strapped in his seat. He was Flying-Officer Anthony John Aubrey Ellwood, aged 29, of Hartington Road, Stockton-on-Tees, son of Air Marshal Sir Aubrey Ellwood, previously head of RAF Transport Command. Flying-Officer Ellwood had served in the RAF in WW2, flying Short Sunderland flying boats with 228 Sqn, RAF Pembroke Dock on patrols over the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay.
Given his father's status,the crash made international headlines. Here is one example, a syndicated article in an Australian newspaper:
"Cairns Post", Cairns, Queensland, Thursday 18 September 1952 (Page 1):

"AIR MARSHAL'S SON KILLED JET FIGHTER PILOT CRASHES.
LONDON. Sept. 18 1952
F/O Anthony John Aubrey ELLWOOD RAF the 29-year-old son of Air-Marshal Sir Aubrey Ellwood, was killed to-day when his Meteor jet fighter crashed during practice for 'The Battle for Britain displays' on Sunday. He was the third pilot to be killed in two days in the practices for Sunday's Battle for Britain displays. A lorry driver was also killed by a part of the plane which crashed near Bridlington, Yorkshire."
At the inquest held on September 18th 1952 at RAF Driffield, it was recorded in evidence that F/O Ellwood had flown 450-hours in jet aircraft and was regarded as being ''very experienced". Flt-Lt Leslie Gratton, Air Traffic Controller at RAF Carnaby, said the Meteor emerged from cloud and impacted with the ground. A verdict of Accidental Death was returned.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. 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. p 134)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.293
4. Inquest into death of pilot: Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail 19 September 1952.
5. 203 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2145/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162858
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?25742
7. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42753648
8. https://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Ellwood.htm
9. Portrait of Flying Officer Anthony John Aubrey Ellwood (1923-1952) (1944) By Josephine Haswell Miller; oil on canvas; 75x62cm.

Portrait of Flying Officer Anthony John Aubrey Ellwood (1923-1952) (1944) By Josephine Haswell Miller; oil on canvas; 75x62cm.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Nov-2008 10:35	ASN archive	Added
23-Mar-2020 21:30	Xindel XL	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Country, Phase, Nature, Source, Operator]
23-Mar-2020 21:38	Xindel XL	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Operator]
23-Mar-2021 20:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Mar-2021 16:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
03-Dec-2023 10:16	Paul Allonby	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Photo]