On Friday 27 April 1979, an USAF Phantom aircraft from Alconbury was performing low level tactical reconnaissance over the North York Moors when the engine stalled. The aircraft banked left, striking the ground to the west of Lealholmside before cartwheeling in a fireball across fields for almost half a mile below the houses. Pilot Major Donald Lee Schuyler and Navigator Lt Thomas Wheeler were killed in the crash. It is believed that the crew carefully guided the stricken craft away from the village where the local primary school was full of children, who began classes just half an hour before the accident. A memorial stone, erected by villagers, stands on the site of the crash alongside the road between Lealholm and Lealholmside.