Hawker Sea Hawk Mid-air crash 1956

By Douglas Gordon

2 Fleet Air Arm jet planes from Lossiemouth collided then crashed one landed on Petley farm Portmahomack just north of where Windmill is today and the other where it just missed Rockfield castle at Rockfield farm and was buried there

Hawker Sea Hawk Mid-air crash 1956 By Douglas Gordon from information from Sandy Johnstone I was down at Ballone castle and Alastair Stewart showed me this piece of Aluminium metal and was told it came from a shed that was being demolished at Rockfield farm. I had a look at this machined piece of metal and said it looks as if it has come of an aircraft and was told to telephone Sandy Johnstone as he had the story about it.

So I telephoned Sandy Johnstone and it had come from 2 Sea Hawks that crashed on Petley and Rockfield farms after a mid-Air crash, he said it happened in 1956. I suddenly remembered John Barnetson telling me about this air crash and one of the planes had crashed on Petley where his father managed and worked for Dewar Aird. He had got a small glass light of the plane. Andrew Munro Rockfield had told Sandy Johnstone about this website called safe ejection as the 2 Pilots had safely ejected from their single seat jet aircraft, then I found this other site which gave more information on aircraft. Names of the pilots and what type of aircraft they few in and the planes code or serial number www.ejection-history.org.uk and looked up year 1956. http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1956.htm#feb Here is the information I got from this site

http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm information above Sandy Johnstone said the plane that on Petley farm was gathered up and the wreckage carted away. But the other plane went straight into a wet bit of ground at Rockfield farm Portmahomack called Castle field and is still there today so they got more ground and covered over where the jet plane went into the ground. This map below roughly shows where the 2 jet planes crashed on Petley farm just north of where Windmill is today and the other where it just missed Rockfield castle at Rockfield farm Then I emailed a friend who is an expert friend of mine, Peter kirk with photos of metal and type of plane and he sent this photo back, which shows this piece of metal came from nose wheel landing gear on Hawker Sea Hawk, see photo below with where piece of metal came from circled.

Then I emailed a friend who is an expert friend of mine, Peter kirk with photos of metal and type of plane and he sent this photo back, which shows this piece of metal came from nose wheel landing gear on Hawker Sea Hawk, see photo below with where piece of metal came from circled.

Below are parts John Barnetson collected at Petley farm where he lived, and he wrote on back of the plates the date and Plane number WF276