Date:	Friday 5 December 1958
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T Mk 11
Owner/operator:	5 FTS RAF
Registration:	WZ520
MSN:	15107
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Railway Line near RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 5/12/58: Swung during take off from RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire. It then bounced over a railway embankment after the undercarriage was raised to facilitate an emergency stop. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Cambridge Daily News" 5 December 1958):

"Two airmen from Oakington airfield had miraculous escapes when their Vampire jet trainer crashed on the main railway line bordering the airfield and skidded 200 yards across a ploughed field. The plane had taken off from the main runway when its engine failed. It rapidly lost height and at 100 mph hit the main ‘down’ Cambridge-Huntingdon railway line, shedding its undercarriage before knocking down fences and coming to rest. Both lines were blocked for half an hour but workmen soon had the damage repaired."

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.198 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 109)
3. http://www.ldhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Oakington-Scrapbook-1897-to-1990.pdf
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WZ
5. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh115.pdf
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1958.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Mar-2013 11:09	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Mar-2013 09:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]
07-Dec-2018 13:32	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, Operator]
10-Jan-2020 18:58	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Operator]
25-Jan-2020 21:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
26-Jan-2020 16:41	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
11-Jul-2023 22:04	Nepa	Updated [[Operator, Operator]]