Date:	Thursday 11 December 1952
Time:	night
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	616 (South Yorkshire) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH455
MSN:	G5/415585
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 23 miles NNE of Whitby, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
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 F.Mk.8 WH455, 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, RAF: delivered 12/10/1951. Written off 11/12/1952 when collided with Meteor F.Mk.8 WH473 (also of 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, RAF), whilst carrying out a practice interception at night.

The two Meteors (WH455 and WH473) were engaged in practice interceptions at night on a sortie from RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire. Visual contact had been made by both aircraft at a range of approximately 1,200 yards. Both aircraft then collided and crashed into the North Sea, 23 miles North North-East of Whitby, North Yorkshire, and both pilots were killed. Despite extensive search-and-rescue efforts by the lifeboat crews from Whitby and Runswick Bay, nothing was found of the wreckage of both aircraft, and the bodies of both pilots were never recovered

Pilot of Meteor WH455:
Flight Lieutenant (144636) Barry Kneath, DFC, RAF (pilot, aged 31) - killed in service 11/12/1952, body not found/not recovered

Flight Lieutenant Kneath was awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) while serving with a Mosquito Squadron in the period leading up to D-Day (the invasion of Europe on June 6 1944).

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4. p 139)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.318
4. 616 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1949 to 31/3/1957: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2524/52 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8423172
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38009/supplement/3128/data.pdf
7. https://www.rauxaf.net/page151.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 10:01	JINX	Added
17-Jan-2012 04:25	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
01-Apr-2021 20:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
02-Apr-2021 16:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
02-Apr-2021 17:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Apr-2021 17:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Apr-2021 17:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Narrative]
19-Apr-2021 21:05	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Narrative]