John Sim Kidd 1931-1952

The 11th of August 2002 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pilot Officer J. S. Kidd. John was killed when he lost control of his Meteor F4, shortly after take off from RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire, where he was stationed as a member of 215 Advanced Flying School.

John was a former student of the Morgan Academy and left in 1950 to begin his National Service with the RAF at the start of 1951. He was nearing the end of his training when the accident happened, the cause of which, still remains uncertain but was one of the hundreds of fatalities that occurred with this type of aircraft.

My own involvement started on the afternoon of the accident, for I was a partial witness to the event. I was a schoolboy at the time and it was fifty years later that I set out to uncover the circumstances surrounding the crash. With the assistance of people too numerous to mention here, I was able to track Johns origins back to Dundee and through the help of this information forum, eventually locate his sister Sheila who had scant knowledge of the events that had taken place that day.

You can read a full account of my research by clicking here (a new window will open in your browser)

David Ives

Newark Nottinghamshire

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