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Date: | Monday 26 October 1953 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Gloster Meteor F Mk 8 |
Owner/operator: | 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | WH467 |
MSN: | G5/415596 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | 14 Moore Road, Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Horsham St. Faith, Norwich, Norfolk |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH467, 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron, RAF: Delivered 19/10/1951. Written off (destroyed) 26/10/53 when crashed at Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk. The Meteor was one of three carrying out practice interceptions on a Boeing B-29 bomber. The aircraft flew through the attack, and then passed underneath the bomber. It then went into a wide spiral dive, striking the ground at a steep angle on a newly built housing estate at Whitton, Ipswich.
According to some sources the actual crash location was at 14 Moore Road in Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk. Fortunately only two persons were injured on the ground. Also a German Shepherd dog belonging to a resident was killed.
The cause of the crash was that the hood had detached from the aircraft, and is presumed to have struck the pilot, incapacitating him. The pilot was killed
Pilot of Meteor WH467
Flight Lieutenant Gerald William Hill, DFC, RAF (pilot, Service Number 58136, aged 28) - killed in service 26/10/1953
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.151 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 422-423
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 51)
4. 263 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/4/1953 to 30/11/1953: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2671/12 at
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426892 5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/183:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424304 6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2664:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578510 7.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH 8. Photo of Damage to houses (NOTE: Date wrongly given as 10 October 1953):
https://www.alamy.com/oct-10-1953-more-than-thirty-houses-damaged-by-meteor-jet-crash-at-image69286137.html
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
19 April 1956 |
WH466 |
43 (China-British) Sqn RAF |
0 |
RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
12-Jun-2008 13:05 |
JINX |
Added |
30-May-2013 13:49 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase] |
04-Jul-2013 14:29 |
Anon. |
Updated [Narrative] |
22-Dec-2013 18:01 |
milburn-foster |
Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport] |
03-Jan-2020 22:25 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
03-Jan-2020 22:28 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
20-May-2021 16:30 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative] |
23-May-2021 00:01 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |