Date:	Tuesday 29 December 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	215 AFS RAF
Registration:	WH197
MSN:	G5/442147
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	High Common Lane, Austerfield, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WH197, 215 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF: Delivered 31/1/1952. Written off (destroyed) 29 December 1953: Whilst on a final turn to land at RAF Finningley in a right hand circuit, the degree of bank increased, and the rate of descent was high, causing the aircraft to strike the ground, cartwheel, and blow up, two miles south south west of RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire, killing the pilot.

Crew of Meteor T.7:
PIlot-Officer (2488190) Peter Edward JONES (pilot) RAF - killed in service 29/12/1953. He was a National Service pilot aged 23.

The Nottingham Evening Post reported: "JET CRASHES ON POWER LINE. A METEOR jet 'plane which crashed into the Austerfield- Gainsborough main transmission line of the Yorkshire Electricity Board at Bawtry. near Doncaster, to-day, caused widespread stoppage of electricity. The only occupant of the aircraft, the pilot, was killed. The 'plane burst into flames. Gainsborough and several small towns in Lincolnshire and Notts and scores of villages were without power for 35-minutes An Air Ministry spokesman said that a Meteor VII from the Finningley R.A.F. Station took off for a training flight and crashed about a mile from the station into a ploughed field. The overhead line carries 4,000 volts, and when the aircraft struck it 10.000 consumers in the Yorkshire Electricity Board sub-areas of Sheffield and Grimsby were affected. The load was restored within half an hour." (The newspaper also reported in the same edition where a second RAF jet had crashed locally, at Tuxford, Notts. The item said the un-named pilot had been taken to hospital with serious injuries.)

Wreckage of Meteor WH197 recovered by (and to) 60 MU RAF Ruffoth, York, North Yorkshire, where Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(s) and authorised to be reduced to scrap.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.153 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 438
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 215 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/2/1952 to 30/6/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2143/3 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162857
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
7. 'Nottingham Evening Post' 29.12.53

Peter during training at RAF Rochester (24 EFTS) Autumn 1951. Allonby Collection.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Jun-2008 19:55	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 17:04	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Destination airport]
17-Feb-2020 02:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
18-Feb-2020 11:59	Iwosh	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
25-May-2021 16:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
25-May-2021 16:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-May-2021 21:13	Vicktor	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
09-Dec-2023 10:01	Anon.	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Photo]