Date:	Tuesday 1 May 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	CFE RAF
Registration:	WA678
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2.5 miles south of RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:	RAF West Raynham, Norfolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WA678, CFE (Central Fighter Establishment), RAF: Written off (destroyed) 1/5/51 when crashed two-and-a-half-miles South of RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk. Both on board killed.

The aircraft spun into the ground on the downwind leg while on final approach to RAF West Raynham. It seems probable that fuel was not selected from the ventral tank, and this caused one or both engines to fail due to fuel starvation, with the aircraft flying at close to stalling speed

Crew of Meteor WA678
Flight Lieutenant (59479) Harold Myburgh TAYLOR (Pilot) RAF - killed
Flight Lieutenant (190550) Francis Alexander Oliver RALPH (pilot) RAF - killed

Both crew are interned at St Mary's Church, East Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk.

There was a postscript almost 70 years later (see link #10). Part of the wreckage was inadvertantly dug up by a farmer ploughing his fields in 2020. In April 2021, the BBC reported the following:

"Norfolk farmer's 1951 Gloster Meteor crash find to become memorial

The engine of a jet fighter that crashed 70 years ago and was recently rediscovered by a farmer will go on display as a "fitting memorial". The Gloster Meteor went down on its approach towards RAF West Raynham in Norfolk on 1 May 1951, killing both men on board.

Last year, the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre learned a farmer had found part of a Rolls-Royce engine in a field. It is now due to go on display at West Raynham on the 70th anniversary.

The pilot Flt Lt Harold Myburgh Taylor and Flt Lt Francis Alexander Oliver Ralph were killed in the crash as they made their way from RAF Little Rissington in Gloucestershire.

Ian Brown, from the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre, which is few miles from West Raynham, said: "We got a phone call last year during the lockdown that a farmer had discovered part of the Rolls-Royce engine. He said 'would you like it?', basically, and we said 'of course, having a jet engine on display is always a massive bonus for any kind of museum'."

It was later agreed that the engine should be put on display at West Raynham's control tower at the former airfield, which is now a solar farm and business park.

"We felt it was a fitting memorial that the aircraft, or part of the aircraft, would finally make it to West Raynham on 1 May, which will be the 70th anniversary," said Mr Brown.

He added he wanted the engine to serve as a memorial "not just to Flt Lt Harold Myburgh Taylor and Flt Lt Francis Alexander Oliver Ralph, but to everybody who was killed in training exercises after World War Two".

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.113 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 133
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/47: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424168
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2523: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578369
5. CFE (Central Fighter Establishment) ORB (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2432 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4102142
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
7. https://mychoicematters.org.au/forgottensculthorpebase/
8. https://www.geni.com/people/Harold-Myburgh-Taylor/6000000022033408427
9. http://southafricawargraves.org/lists/Postwar_SAs.htm
10. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-56798377

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 07:17	JINX	Added
07-Jun-2008 02:29	JINX	Updated
15-May-2013 13:29	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport]
28-Dec-2019 16:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Dec-2019 20:51	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]
20-Jan-2021 21:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
21-Apr-2021 17:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
21-Apr-2021 17:52	Cliford	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, Operator]