| How Ken and John dug deep in the interest of aviation history
The low rain bearing clouds on that Sunday afternoon provided excellent cover for the German Junkers 88 with a crew of four on board. Flying at 25,000 feet, a height which the pilot would have considered reasonably safe especially with the cloud layer below, it was en route to a photo reconnaissance sortie over Manchester. As it crossed the North Sea and swung southward, north of Sunderland, two spitfires from Catterick were scrambled to intercept the raider. This they did over the Tees estuary and attacked with all guns blazing. Crippled, the Ju 88 writhed and twisted its way low over Redcar trailing smoke towards the Eston Hills. Many people watched in horror as the plane plummeted to the ground in a whining scream of engines. One crew member tried to escape by parachute, but he was too low, and later he was found hanging from a tree. The German bomber finally crashed into the soft earth of Barnaby Moor on land farmed by Arthur Rider. His son John Rider who still farms that area was 4 years old, and remembers his father telling him later about the crash. “He knew the location well, because he was reclaiming the moor for food production during the war, and along with scores of other people he went to the crash site. He told me about the number of young lads who scoured the site for souvenirs. It was reported that one youngster actually found a glove with a hand in it. The RAF was anxious to examine every piece of the Ju 88 and the police visited schools the following week appealing to youngsters to hand in anything they had found; with what success has never been established. If he had been around at the time it is certain that one of those youngsters would have been Ken Ward, who lives in an isolated house south of Chop Gate, off the Hemsley road. Fifty three years old Ken is an aircraft fanatic. He first became interested in recovering wrecked aircraft in the late 50s’ when a neighbour took him walking over the Yorkshire moors to show him a wreck of a Wellington bomber. The whole aircraft was embedded in a hillside and had just been left there to rot. Little wonder then that the Banaby Moor crash became of major interest to him. “It took two Sunday’s of hard work before the two enthusiasts had their first success when they discovered the engine remains. “It still had oil in it” recalls John. Ken was like a dog that had unearthed a juicy bone. As they penetrated further beneath the surface, other items came to light. First the aircraft’s tail wheel, then a first aid kit containing bandages, a hypodermic needle and, more grisly, a small saw. Part of the airframe was then discovered and then at 15ft the main propeller blade and a machine gun was found.John recalled a member of the public approaching him to show him a watch he had recovered at the time of the crash. “He told me it was still in good working order. I can’t help but think it was taken from the poor devil who perished when he baled out and was found hanging from his parachute in a tree.” One thing that still puzzles John to this day. “Despite all our searching we never found any human traces whatsoever. I find this very surprising, very odd.” Outside he has five cockpit sections including: a Buccaneer, Jet Provost, Lightening, Meteor and Valiant. He was also responsible for restoring an English Electric Lightening which is now on permanent display outside Teesside Airport. This
article appeared in the November 2000 edition of Now & Then Magazine |