Date:	Saturday 24 March 1956
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	608 (North Riding) Sqn RAF
Registration:	VZ227
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Stainsby Beck, Acklam, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Thornaby, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Vampire VZ227 was built to contract 6/ACFT/2467 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was delivered to the RAF on 4/1/50. It was issued to 247 Squadron at Odiham in February 1950 when to unit converted to the type. 247 Squadron ceased operating Vampire FB.5's in May 1951 and after a period of storage the aircraft was issued to 608 Squadron at Thornaby

On 24/3/1956 Vampire FB.5 VZ227 of 608 (County of North Riding) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, force-landed near Acklam following an engine failure immediately after take off from Thornaby. The aircraft just missed houses on Farley Drive, Acklam, some five hundred yards from Stainsby Hill Farm. The aircraft approached the airfield from a North North East direction crossing half way up Downside Road at an estimated 200 feet. It proceeded across what was Levick Playing field and across Mandale Road. It then clipped a tree top alongside the Stainsby Beck and went down in the field beyond the beck.

A man from Farley Drive arrived and extricated the pilot, who appeared to have only suffered superficial cuts. The aircraft was largely intact and suffered only some "looting" from those who had arrived at the scene. At the time, it was reported that the landing gear failed to come down and that the pilot was cruising around to run down the fuel load, misjudged it and ran out before he made the runway. The aircraft was in the field for the best part of two days.

Pilot - Flying Officer H Bates RAF. Uninjured. Aircraft struck off charge as Cat.5/FA damage as a result of the incident at Acklam and was scrapped.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.178 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 102)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.184
4. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/vz227.html
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. http://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/Losses/Losses-PostWWII.htm
7. http://www.dehavilland.ukf.net/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Mar-2013 20:21	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Apr-2013 07:27	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
10-Jan-2020 20:45	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
13-Jun-2020 20:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
14-Jun-2020 08:12	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]