AN RAF hero who gave the only parachute aboard a doomed training plane to a teenage cadet was remembered at a ceremony yesterday.

Flight Lieutenant John Quinton was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his selfless act, which followed a mid-air collision in 1951.

A Wellington and a Martinet on a training exercise collided in the skies above the village of Hudswell, near Catterick, North Yorkshire.

The Martinet plunged into a field, killing the pilot and a 15-year-old cadet.

As the damaged Wellington began to break up, Flt Lt Quinton clipped the parachute to Middlesbrough cadet Derek Coates and helped him jump clear. The Wellington's three crewmen died.

Yesterday, 30 air cadets from Middlesbrough and Yorkshire stood in silence with members of his family at his grave in St John's Church, Leeming, North Yorkshire, before the Last Post was played in his honour.

Ft Lt Gary Davidson, from the 1869 (Middlesbrough) Squadron of the Air Training Corps, said: "It is a major part of our squadron history and it is very fitting that we are able pay tribute in our 60th year."

The squadron's anniversary celebrations end with a reunion on Friday, June 21.

Details of the event can be found on the squadron's website at www.geocities.com/ atc_1869