Date:	Saturday 19 July 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor NF Mk 11
Owner/operator:	228 OCU RAF
Registration:	WD716
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Saltwick Bay, one mile east of Whitby, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor NF.11 WD716, 228 OCU RAF: delivered 18/3/1952. Written off 19/07/1952 when crashed into Saltwick Bay, one mile East of Whitby, North Yorkshire. The aircraft had been airborne for about 35 minutes on a night GCI (Ground Controlled Interception) sortie from RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire, when both engines failed in flight, and the pilot decided to ditch the aircraft into the North Sea off Whitby. The pilot received eye injuries during the ditching. Although both crew survived the ditching, albeit with injuries, neither of the crew survived

Crew:
Pilot Officer Brian HAMILTON (pilot) attempted to swim from aircraft but drowned, killed
Sergeant Desmond Reginald STURGESS (nav.) baled out before aircraft was ditched. Body never found

The crash location was in the North Sea, off Saltwick Bay, a north-east facing bay approximately one mile (1.6 km) to the east of Whitby, on the east coast of North Yorkshire, England

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. 228 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/3/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR AIR 29/2166 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101876
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WD
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20160310233713/http://ejection-history.org.uk/squadron_228_ocu/squadron_228ocu.htm
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwick_Bay

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jun-2008 02:46	JINX	Added
23-Jan-2012 05:20	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
05-Mar-2014 07:43	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Mar-2021 16:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
16-Mar-2021 20:39	Emil Robot	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Operator]