Date:	Tuesday 9 September 1952
Time:	09:50 LT
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	66 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA822
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Fox Foot Farm, New Pilfit, near Coxwold, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire (HRT/EGXU)
Destination airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire (HRT/EGXU)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WA822, 66 Sqaudron, RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire: Delivered 31 July 1950. Written off 9 September 1952 when crashed at New Pilfit, near Coxwold, Hambleton, North Yorkshire

On 9 September 1952 Meteor F.8 WA822 was part of a formation of six aircraft which entered cloud, the formation came out of cloud at 13,000 feet but this aircraft did not emerge and contact with the pilot was lost. The aircraft was seen to dive into the ground at a steep angle and crash near Fox Foot Farm, New Pilfit, near Coxwold, North Yorkshire, killing the pilot.

Wreckage was spread over a wide area with an engine ending up in a deep ditch and not far from the nearby railway line. Low cloud and heavy rain was reported in the area at the time. Helmsley Fire Brigade were called to attend this incident, whilst their tender was leaving the town, the trailer pump detached itself from the engine and crashed through the bridge parapet over the River Rye.

The probable cause of the Meteor crashing was put at the pilot losing control of the aircraft whilst flying in cloud using his instruments. The aircraft took off from Linton on Ouse at 09.45 hours and crashed only five minutes later.

Crew:
Pilot - Pilot Officer Colin Petty RAF (578727), aged 26, of Hull, Yorkshire. Buried Newton on Ouse Churchyard, North Yorkshire (grave LGA, 11).

Colin Petty was born in Hull on 12th January 1926 and attended Hull Grammar School as a boy, he was known as "Jerry". He joined the RAF at the age of sixteen to serve in the ground trades and had initially served as a fitter. He later volunteered to switch to become a pilot. Many months after his death the London Gazette stated that he had been appointed to a permanent commission in the RAF to the rank of P/O on 22nd February 1954 but with his period of service to count from 15th September 1950 and this may be the date he gained his Pilot's Wings. He married Maureen Milsom in Withernsea in 1948, he also left a young daughter (Wendy) and his wife was pregnant with a second daughter (Louise). His wife appears to have re-married in the late 1950s in the Withernsea area.

Coxwold is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England and located within the North York Moors National Park. It is situated 18 miles north of York

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.134 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 289
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983, p.15)
4. 66 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2627/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424987
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
6. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/wa822.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxwold
8. https://www.militaryimages.net/media/colin-petty.102880/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 14:24	JINX	Added
07-Jun-2008 12:03	JINX	Updated
04-Jan-2015 20:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2015 09:11	Victor III	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
22-Mar-2021 22:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
14-May-2021 14:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]