Date:	Tuesday 20 May 1952
Time:	night
Type:	Gloster Meteor NF Mk 11
Owner/operator:	141 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WD607
MSN:	AW.5264
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 20 miles East of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Coltishall, Norfolk (EGYC)
Destination airport:	RAF Coltishall, Norfolk (EGYC)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor NF.11 WD607, 141 Sqaudron, RAF: delivered 31/8/1951. Written off 20/05/1952, when crashed into the North Sea, 20 miles East of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. During practice interceptions at 15,000 feet over the North Sea, off Great Yarmouth, as one of a pair of 141 Squadron Meteor NF.11s (the other was WD613) the pilot was instructed to pull ahead, so that it could act as the target for the other aircraft in the pair.

While carrying out this instruction, the starboard engine of Meteor WD607 failed, the aircraft yawed, and struck the other Meteor (WD613), losing its tailplane as a result of the collision. The crew of Meteor WD607 successfully abandoned their aircraft, and descended by parachute into the sea. Meteor WD607, now without a crew on board, was destroyed when it dived into the North Sea, twenty miles east of Great Yarmouth. Of the two crew, both survived the crash, but one of the two crew was killed, being drowned before being rescued

Crew of Meteor WD617:
Sergeant P Jarrett, RAF (pilot) - bailed out, but found and recued, survived injured
Sergeant Robert Hirst, RAF (Navigator) - bailed out, killed 20/5/1952 when drowned before rescue

The other aircraft involved in the collision - Gloster Meteor NF.11 WD613 of 141 Sqaudron, RAF - survived, despite the damage sustained, and landed safely back at RAF Coltishall. (It survived to be Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(scrap) on 6/5/1958 at No.15 MU Wroughton, and sold for scrap to International Alloys).

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.128 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 249
3. 141 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/3/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2144 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101854
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WD

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jun-2008 01:24	JINX	Added
12-Jul-2009 11:50	harro	Updated
02-Mar-2012 08:29	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Source]
17-Jun-2015 17:56	Ing Edcker	Updated [Aircraft type, Location]
04-Oct-2018 13:15	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
08-Mar-2021 19:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Jul-2021 19:39	nic55kel	Updated [Narrative]