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Date: | Tuesday 22 April 1947 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Gloster Meteor F.4 |
Owner/operator: | Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd |
Registration: | RA394 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | RAF Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire, England -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Test |
Departure airport: | RAF Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Gloster Meteor F.4 RA394, Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd: Written off (destroyed) in a fatal flying accident 22/04/1947. One engine failed in a steep dive, and the pilot had great difficulty in handling the landing approach, finally stalling whilst climbing to avoid a tree. He was on the third and final test flight, when he had a starboard engine failure (always a critical situation in the Meteor). He tried to land in a very gusty crosswind condition and just did not make it. Aircraft yawed on overshoot and dived into the ground. Pilot killed. The "Straits Times" newspaper report (see link #9) adds that "Lt Bridge was pinned beneath the wreckage, He was dead when freed. The plane did not catch fire"
Pilot:
Lieutenant James Edward Bridge (Gloster's Development Test Pilot) RNVR aged 26 - killed
Although the pilot was ex-Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, he was a civilian test pilot at the time of death, hence records as to the exact date of death and where he was buried are lacking or contradictory. (He is not listed in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) database). However, there is a grave for one "James Edward Bridge" at the Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester. The date given (24 May 1947) was the date of the burial, not the date of death. It is not certain if this was the same person as the pilot of Meteor RA394.
The National Probate Calendar records that he died on April 22nd 1947 at Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire. His death was reported in several newspapers at the time, including the Western Morning News of April 23rd, which reported:
"Jet Test Pilot Killed
Mr. James Bridge, a test pilot, was killed yesterday while flying a Gloster Meteor jet plane at Moreton Valence aerodrome, near Gloucester."
Flight magazine (1 May 1947 issue, page 389) reported the incident thus:
"Gloster's Loss
LT. JAMES BRIDGE, a Gloster test pilot, was killed on April 22nd near Moreton Valence while testing a Meteor. Lt. Bridge served with the Fleet Air Arm during the war. Before demobilization, he attended the Empire Test Pilots' School. He leaves a wife but no children."
NOTE: 12 Gloster Meteors - RA384 to RA396 inclusive (except RA387) - had been diverted off the production line at Gloster Aircraft to fulfil an order for the Argentine Air Force (as Argentine Air Force Serials I-001 to I-011). It is therefore logical to presume that, if Meteor RA394 had been delivered, it would have been I-007 with the Argentine Air Force. Meteor RA370 was thus diverted from the Gloster Aircraft production line as a replacement aircraft
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.61. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2.
https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=177 3.
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?24109-470422-Unaccounted-Airmen-22-04-1947 4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/29/W2375:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578221 5.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=52733 6.
http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html 7.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155216859/james-edward-bridge 8. Flight Magazine 1 May 1947 page 389:
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1947/1947%20-%200663.PDF 9. "Test Pilot Killed" The Straits Times, 24 April 1947, Page 3:
https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19470424-1.2.25.4 10. Aeromilitaria Autumn 2009 p.127:
https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf 11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Moreton_Valence Location
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
20-Apr-2008 09:58 |
Nepa |
Added |
09-Apr-2010 11:42 |
Nepa |
Updated [Registration, Narrative] |
02-Dec-2011 10:03 |
Nepa |
Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
03-Dec-2011 12:10 |
Nepa |
Updated [Location, Departure airport] |
21-Aug-2013 20:29 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
09-Oct-2013 12:50 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
22-May-2014 09:03 |
Nepa |
Updated [Narrative] |
02-Sep-2014 14:10 |
Siczak |
Updated [Location] |
30-Jul-2015 18:53 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative] |
25-Dec-2015 15:47 |
Gloug |
Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
10-Feb-2018 11:13 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Aircraft type] |
26-Jan-2019 14:18 |
Gloug |
Updated [Date, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
16-Jul-2019 06:30 |
angels one five |
Updated [Narrative] |
20-Nov-2019 01:40 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
20-Nov-2019 21:15 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
24-Nov-2019 01:03 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
18-May-2023 14:31 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [[Source]] |
17-Jul-2023 08:04 |
Nepa |
Updated [[[Source]]] |