Date:	Tuesday 1 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	229 OCU RAF
Registration:	WA403
MSN:	EEP/42253
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bristol Channel, 1 mile SW of Hartland Point, North Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon (EGDC)
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Devon (EGDC)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 WA403, 229 OCU RAF: delivered 8/6/1951. Written off 1/9/1953 when crashed into the Bristol Channel, one mile South West of Hartland Point, North Devon.

A pair of Vampire FB.Mk.5s from 229 OCU (WA403 and VZ190) had taken off from RAF Chivenor, Devon to practice battle formation training. During the manouvring that this flying exercise entailed, Vampire FB.5 WA403 and VZ190 collided, one mile south-west of Harland Point, Devon. The pilot of Vampire WA403 did not bail out, and was killed when the aircraft hit the waters of the Bristol Channel. The pilot of Vampire VZ190 did successfully bail out, and survived

Crew of Vampire WA403:
Pilot Officer (2532354) Roger Michael ROOKE (pilot) RAF- killed in service 1/9/1953

The reported crash location is one mile south west of Hartland Point, a 325 foot (99 metre) high rocky outcrop of land on the north-western tip of the Devon coast in England. It is three miles (5 km) north-west of the village of Hartland. The point marks the western limit (on the English side) of the Bristol Channel with the Atlantic Ocean continuing to the west.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p 149 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 407
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. 229 OCU ORB (Operation Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2167 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101877
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
7. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39767/supplement/691/data.pdf
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartland_Point

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-May-2008 02:21	JINX	Added
08-Jun-2008 21:55	JINX	Updated
17-May-2015 07:15	MiG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
13-May-2021 17:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
13-May-2021 17:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-May-2021 18:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
13-May-2021 18:12	Vicktor	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]