Date:	Friday 10 August 1956
Time:	night
Type:	De Havilland DH.112 Venom NF Mk 3
Owner/operator:	89 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WX884
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Wickhambrook, 1.5 miles NE of RAF Stradishall, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.112 Venom NF.Mk.3 WX884: Delivered 7/10/55. Sole operational service career was as "L" of 89 Squadron, RAF.

Written off 10/8/1956: The aircraft overshot from a night GCA (Ground Controlled Approach), and began a visual circuit before landing on the runway at RAF Stradishall. The pilot then called "OVERSHOOTING!" and then took off again, before commencing a turn to port at low level. The aircraft then descended and struck the ground near Wickhambrook, one and a half miles north east of the airfield. The port wing of the Venom broke off on impact with the ground, and the aircraft then went through a hedge into a wood and caught fire. Both crew were killed.

Crew of Venom WX881:
Flying Officer James Douglas Henri HAMMETT, RAF (Pilot, Service Number 2608951, aged 23) - killed on active service 10/8/56, buried at Haverhill Cemetery, Suffolk
Flying Officer Raymond Edward George HICKLING (Navigator, Service Number 2569451, aged 23) - killed on active service 10/8/56

The reported crash location of Wickhambrook is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is about ten miles (16 km) south-west from Bury St Edmunds, halfway to Haverhill, off the A143 road, at approximate co ordinates 52.170°N 0.551°E.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.182 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 107)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.203
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/351: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424472
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/35/S2832: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578612
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WX
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH112%20prodn%20list.txt
8. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
9. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
10. Pilots gravestone: https://www.flickr.com/photos/16162181@N05/22570624097/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickhambrook

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Apr-2013 17:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Apr-2013 07:53	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
17-Jan-2020 02:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
22-Jan-2020 17:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
22-Jan-2020 23:02	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
24-Jun-2020 19:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
24-Jun-2020 19:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]