Date:	Saturday 14 November 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	610 (County of Chester) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH383
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Scholes Height, one mile North of Edgworth, Lancashire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hooton Park, Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH383, 610 (County of Chester) Squadron, RAF: delivered 29/2/1952. Written off 14/11/1953 when crashed on a hillside at Scholes Height, one mile North of Edgworth, Lancashire

The two jet aircraft, led by Flight Lieutenant Anthony Basil Mercer, a resident of Chester, had taken off from Hooton Park near Ellesmere Port (now mostly covered by the Vauxhall car plant) on a training flight, the two aircraft were next heard passing over Edgworth which was followed shortly afterwards by a loud explosion. The pair of aircraft had struck a stone wall near the top of a steep slope and disintegrated spreading wreckage over a wide area while carrying a descent through cloud. The local newspaper initially reported only a single plane had crashed due to the wreckage from both being mixed together, though this was quickly revised. Both crew (one in each aircraft) were killed

Crew of Meteor WH383:
Flying Officer (2600580) Arthur Michael Fletcher, RAF (pilot, aged 24) - killed in service 14/11/1953

At the time of his fatal accident, the pilot was resident at Mornington Road, Bolton, Lancashire. Although only small remains are visible of the two Meteor aircraft, the damaged wall that was hit is still there, well into the 21st century, some sixty-five years after the impact.

Edgworth is a small village within the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is north east of North Turton between Broadhead Brook on the west (expanded artificially to form the Wayoh Reservoir) and Quarlton Brook in the south east. The ground ranges from 650 feet (200 m) to 1,100 feet (340 m) above sea level.

1. Aircraft Wrecks: The Walker's Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors and Mountains of the British Isles (pp.153-154) By Nick Wotherspoon, Alan Clark, Mark Sheldon
2. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.153 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 429
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron, RAF ORB (Operations Record Book) for the period 1/6/1946 to 31/3/1957: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2516 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505154
5. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/gloster-meteor-wh383-wh384-edgworth/
6. https://aircrashsites.co.uk/post-war-crash-sites/dsc_0040-2/
7. https://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/gloster-meteors-wh383-and-wh384-edgworth-lancashire-2/
8. https://www.bolton-encyclopedia.com/1950-1959
10. https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=47262
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgworth
12. https://www.rauxaf.net/page151.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 08:05	JINX	Added
10-Jan-2012 15:24	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
22-May-2021 18:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
22-May-2021 18:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration, Narrative]
22-May-2021 18:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
22-May-2021 18:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
23-May-2021 18:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]