Date:	Friday 4 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	257 (Burma) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WF648
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 8 miles East of Lowestoft, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WF648: First issued to 56 Sqn 17.7.51 coded E. Sustained Cat 3(R) damage 12/2/52. To Gloster Aircraft 27/3/52 as Cat 4(R) damaged. Repaired and returned to the RAF at 12 MU 18/3/53. Returned to 257 Sqn 18/6/53.

Written off (destroyed) when broke up in the air and crashed into the North Sea 8 miles East of Lowestoft, Suffolk, 4/9/53. The aircraft was seen to pull out from a dive, and climb into a bank of cloud. The Meteor was later found to have crashed into the sea at a shallow angle, having struck the sea at high speed. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor WF648:
Flight Lieutenant (1604639) Alan Stanley FINCH, RAF (pilot, aged 29) - killed in service 4/9/1953

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.149 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.409
4. 257 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Mininstry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/4/1952 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2671/4 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426890
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Jun-2008 22:12	JINX	Added
24-Jan-2012 13:08	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
24-Jan-2012 13:09	Nepa	Updated [Source]
30-May-2013 13:28	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
24-Oct-2017 21:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
14-May-2021 15:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]