Date:	Wednesday 15 June 1955
Time:	11:05
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	8 FTS RAF
Registration:	VT263
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Seamer, near Cayton Carr Farm, Cayton, Scarborough, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Driffield, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
On 15.6.1955 the pilot of Meteor F.4 VT263 took off from RAF Driffield at 10:46 hrs for his first solo flight to undertake a high speed training flight. This was to have been carried out at speeds up to Mach 0.78 at 35,000 feet. The pilot was also to practice making steep turns at high altitude, high speed descending to 20,000 feet and making a high level controlled descent.

The weather was good; an excellent summers day. Just before 11.00 hours the aircraft was seen descending at a rough angle of 20 degrees at very high speed on an easterly heading. This angle did not change and many witnesses heard the aircraft's engines screaming as it approached Seamer and Cayton. The aircraft struck the ground with its starboard wing slightly dropped, bounced back into the air and exploded.

The pilot would have stood no chance and would have been killed in the impact at 11.05 hours. As the aircraft disintegrated, parts of it brought down telephone lines and damaged overhead power lines. The crash investigation considered that the cause for the crash could have been due to anoxia on the pilot but this was not in "the usual way".

One possibility that may have resulted in the pilot blacking out was that he had flown with his straps fairly loose, and being a taller than average pilot his seat was unusally high in its setting. During a high speed turn at altitude the pilot may have struck his head on the aircraft which rendered him unconscious.

The aircraft was delivered to the RAF on 22.9.1948, and had service with 56 Squadron, 226 OCU and 8 FTS. The aircraft had a total of 553 hours flown at the time of the crash and had last been serviced 134 hours prior to the crash.

Crew:
Pilot Officer Jorn Dietmar Walz, RAF (pilot, Service Number 2713560) - killed on active service 15.6.55

P/O Jorn Walz's gravestone is in Driffield Cemetery. He was born on 14th January 1935. He received his National Service commission to the rank of Acting P/O on probation on 21st April 1954 and was re-graded as P/O on 21st April 1955.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.171 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1985, p.84)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.139
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
5. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/vt263.html
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 233/279: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424400

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Jan-2015 17:23	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Jan-2015 17:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
10-May-2015 17:54	Angel Dick one	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
14-Jan-2020 02:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
14-Jan-2020 19:39	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, Operator]
22-May-2020 16:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]