Date:	Wednesday 17 June 1953
Time:	01:20
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	206 AFS RAF
Registration:	WG971
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1,25 mi NNW of Caxton, Cambridgeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WG971, 206 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF: Written off (destroyed) 17 June 1953, when crashed at Pastures Farm, Caxton, Cambridgeshire, eight miles south west of RAF Oakington. After carrying out a "roller landing" (in which the aircraft touched down and then immediately took off again without slowing down) the pilot flew away from RAF Oakington to carry out some local flying in the immediate vicinity.

However, during this sortie the pilot allowed the Meteor to descend gradually, but did not correct the loss of height. The fatal flight was the Venezuelan pilots first solo night flight in a Gloster Meteor.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Cambridge Daily News" 19 June 1953):

"An open verdict was recorded at an inquest into the Venezuelan pilot of a Meteor jet plane which crashed near Pasture Farm, Caxton. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area. PC Leonard from Caxton described how he was awakened at 1.20 am by the roar of a low-flying aircraft. From his window he saw a red flash and heard an explosion. The pilot had taken off from Oakington just before midnight. He was in Britain as head of a Venezuela training mission."

Crew WG971:
Major Buenaventuras V. VIVAS (pilot) Venezuelan Air Force - killed in service 17/6/1953

The reported crash location of Caxton is a small rural village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is 9 miles west of the county town of Cambridge. Pastures Farm is approximately 2 km (1.25 miles) North-North-West of the village at approximate co ordinates 52°13′ 20″ N, 0°05′ 59″ W (see link #7)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.145 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Cambridge Daily News 19 June 1953
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WA999 (James J. Halley, Air Brtian, 1983 p,47)
4. Last Take off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950-53 by Colin Cummings p 378
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WG
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxton,_Cambridgeshire
7. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019177

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Jun-2008 10:06	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 16:34	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
03-Feb-2020 00:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
03-Feb-2020 12:50	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature, Operator]
01-May-2021 20:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-May-2021 21:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
03-May-2021 08:33	MiG21	Updated [Time, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
12-Sep-2021 11:08	TB	Updated [Location, Narrative]