Date:	Thursday 25 September 1952
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire F Mk 1
Owner/operator:	208 AFS RAF
Registration:	VF279
MSN:	EEP/40135
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Burton Woods, Curry Rivel, 6 miles North East of Merryfield, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset (EGDI)
Destination airport:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset (EGDI)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire F.Mk 1 VF279: Awaiting collection 13.9.46, delivered same day and issued to 3 Squadron, RAF Gutersloh, West Germany coded "J5-T". Later issued to 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF then 208 AFS, RAF Merryfield

Written off (destroyed) when flew into the ground out of cloud at Burton Woods, Curry Rivel, six miles North East of Merryfield, Somerset, on 25.9.52. The pilot had been breifed to avoid cloud throughout this sortie from RAF Merryfield. Towards the end of the sortie, the pilot asked ATC (Air Traffic Control) at RAF Merryfiled for heading back to base.

As he approached RAF Merryfield, he indicated that he was breaking off the descent to the airfield, as there was cloud ahead. The aircraft was next seen to dive into the ground out of cloud at Curry Rivel, Somserset. According to an eyewitness, who stated, at the inquest into the death of the pilot, that the Vampire dived into the ground from an altitidue of approximately 1,000 feet, and at an angle of 45 degrees

On impact, the aircraft made a crater some 18 feet square, and 10-12 feet deep. The pilot's helmet was found over a mile from the crash site. As stated above, the pilot was killled:

Crew of Vampire VF279:
Pilot Officer John William Gillard, RAF (pilot, aged 19) - killed in serivce 29.5.1952, buried at St. Peter's Church, Ilton, Somerset

The subsequent RAF Board of Inquiry concluded that the pilot had entered an area of the sky with developed cumulo-nimbus cloud. In response, the pilot had opened the aircraft's canopy to clear accumulated ice from the aircraft's canopy and/or windscreen. The aircraft's hood then detached - which explains why the pilot's helmet was found over a mile from where the aircraft came down - and the pilot's helmet, in being forcibly removed from the pilot's head by the aircraft's slipstream, may have caused injury to the pilot, causing him to lose control of his aircraft.

The wreckage of Vampire VF279 was finally Struck off charge on 6/10/52 as Cat. 5 (scrap). The reported crash location of Curry Rivel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Somerton and 10 miles (16.1 km) east of Taunton in the South Somerset district.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.131 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 266
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 62)
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. Western Gazette 3 October 1952
6. 208 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/11/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) flie AIR 29/2147 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101857
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VF
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_Rivel
.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Mar-2013 21:37	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Dec-2018 20:14	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
08-Jan-2020 22:12	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
24-Mar-2021 23:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Mar-2021 16:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
27-Mar-2021 16:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]