To Carol Johnson and R.I.Howard: I was very interested to discover this forum, because I grew up at Upper Laxton on a small farm on the eastern border of Spanhoe airfield (I'm now living in Brisbane, Australia) and, along with my two younger brothers, witnessed this terrible accident. The image is still clearly in my mind. I was 15 years old at the time.
Runway 14 started at the south-western corner of our farm.
Growing up in the post-war years, we seemed to be at the hub of so much flying activity, and developed a keen interest in the aircraft of the era, and could identify most of the aircraft we saw, and would record the serial numbers. The V-bombers were of particular interest to us, and we became very familiar with the Valiants on their training flights from Wittering, which followed a familiar pattern flying up the Welland valley then, somewhere before Harringworth, would bank to port and fly directly overhead on the return to Wittering.
On this particular day, we were about 200 yards from the airfield perimeter and heard the Valiant approaching. What caught our attention was the sound of the engines, which were on full power, and we knew that was not normal. We looked up, and saw the aircraft banking fairly hard to port - I would say about 30 degrees, very low. I clearly recall a steady bank, not a sudden manoeuvre. It disappeared behind the corner of the woods bordering our land, and almost immediately, there was a terrible explosion and ball of fire, which quickly became a churning column of smoke. We were about a quarter of a mile away, and began to run because we thought we would be engulfed. My father was further away in the garden, and felt the heat - he thought it was some sort of a convection current.
My brothers and I were among the first on the scene, and it was a very distressing sight to see the remains of these brave airmen among the burning remains of an aircraft we had so often admired from afar.
It was very clear where the wing first hit the ground just before the cross-runway, there was quite a deep furrow, then the main fuselage appeared to have exploded on the runway, and continued across the adjoining field.
We often speculated as to what might have caused the accident, and the only explanation that seemed likely was that the aircraft had simply failed to gain sufficient altitude coming up the Welland valley to clear the higher ground of the airfield, and the pilot put on full power, but too late. My feeling at the time was that, if he had kept it straight and level, he might have just made it. We considered the possibility of an attempted landing, but the high power setting of the engines seemed to rule this out.
Memories of this accident have remained with me until this time, and I have wondered about the cause. In particular, I have thought of the loved ones of those who died, the fathers you hardly knew. I hope my recounting of this event is not distressing to you - my purpose is to tell you what I know, and it is evident you are searching for answers about something which affects you deeply.
I have noted the date of the 50th. anniversary of this sad event, and may well time my next visit to Laxton to coincide with the memorial service at Harringworth. My thoughts and prayers go to you and to all who lost their loved ones on that day. Requiescant in pace.