Date:	Sunday 27 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	616 (South Yorkshire) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE912
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1 mile N of Spalding, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Finningley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WE912: Delivered to the RAF at 29 MU High Ercall 18.6.51. First issued to 41 Sqn 6.7.51; overshot runway on landing, and ran into road, RAF Biggin Hill, Kent, 21.7.51 (pilot Flying Officer J.L.Broadbent OK). Damage assessed as Cat 3(R); later re-cat as 4(R);

To 32 MU RAF St. Athan 15.8.51 for repairs. Transferred to 38 MU 4.7.52. Next issued to 616 Sqn 9.6.53. Written off (damaged beyond repair) when engine caught fire and aircraft abandoned 1 mile North of Spalding, Lincolnshire 27.9.53.

The aircraft was seen at 2,000 feet with white smoke coming from it. It then caught fire, and the pilot ejected, but, although released from his seat, the parachute did not open. The cause of the in-flight fire is thought to be due to fuel leaking into the engine compartment.

Pilot (Pilot Officer George Furniss, RAF, Service Number 2687094, aged 29) was killed

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.150 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 413
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 36)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/179: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424300
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2660: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578506
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
7. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1953
8. http://web.archive.org/web/20171115111244/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/project/year_pages/1953.htm
9. https://www.rauxaf.net/page151.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 16:17	JINX	Added
17-Jan-2012 04:23	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
26-May-2017 18:43	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Jan-2020 18:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
07-Jan-2020 18:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]