Date:	Wednesday 31 December 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	CFS RAF
Registration:	WF852
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:	RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7, WF852/"O-C", of the CFS (Central Flying School), RAF: delivered 15/6/1951. Written off 31/12/1952 when Spun into ground out of cloud and crashed into soccer field near RAF Little Rissington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

The aircraft was on an aerobatic training sortie, as the pilot was training for competition in the "Brabant Trophy". The aircraft crossed the airfield at RAF Little Rissington in a shallow high speed dive, and then pulled up, flying into cloud at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. The Meteor briefly emerged from cloud, and then re-entered the cloud base, before being seen to spin out of the clouds, out of control

Although the spin was corrected, the aircraft immediately began a spin to the left, and then struck the ground. The pilot was killed on impact, and six people on the ground (two civilians, four RAF persnnel) were injured.

Crew of Meteor WF852:
PIlot Officer Jack William WARD (pilot) RAF - killed in service 31/12/1952

Ground Casualties (all injured, no fatalities):
Miss Pratt (civilian)
Miss Mustow (civilian)
Leading Aircraftman Hooper (RAF)
Aircraftman Allport (RAF)
Aircraftman Cooksey (RAF)
Aircraftman Kempton (RAF)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.138 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 325
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. RAF in Camera: 1950s By Keith Wilson
5. CFS RAF ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2310/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7163225
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
7. http://archiviostorico.unita.it/cgi-bin/highlightPdf.cgi?t=ebook&file=/archivio/uni_1953_01/19530102_0006.pdf
8. https://www.aviation-links.co.uk/Gloucestershire%20Aircraft%20Accidents.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2008 10:28	JINX	Added
24-Dec-2013 12:42	TB	Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
30-Mar-2021 23:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
31-Mar-2021 12:01	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
07-Apr-2021 15:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]