A VINTAGE aeroplane was damaged when it struck a hangar at a North Yorkshire airfield last year.

The 1952 Chipmunk aircraft, owned by Michael O’Connor, from Redcar, was landing at Bagby Airfield near Thirsk on September 22 last year when its right wing and tailplane struck a hangar.

An inquiry by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated there had been no air/ground radio service at Bagby, so before landing the pilot checked the surface wind at a nearby airfield.

The AAIB report stated the pilot of the Chipmunk plane, who has not been named, had landed at the airfield six times in the previous four days and was familiar with the airfield.

He picked a runway with a slight incline which he could land on downwind, but while braking on the runway, the aircraft swung to the left and would not respond to braking.

The report stated: “It veered off the runway and the pilot was unable to halt it before the right wing and tailplane struck a hangar. He made the aircraft safe and vacated without assistance.

“The pilot concluded that the swing to the left may have been due to the wind gusting or shifting direction.”

The report stated the pilot would have used another runway if he had known the wind was the speed that it was.

The unnamed pilot and his passenger were both uninjured.