Date:	Thursday 9 May 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd
Registration:	EE518
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Besford, near Pershore, Wychavon, Worcestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Meteor F.IV EE518: Second production Meteor F. IV. Never delivered. Retained on C(A) MoS (Controller (Air) Ministry of Supply) charge at Gloster Aircraft, Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire for test flying and trial installations. Aircraft was engaged in a test flight after fuel pump change. 09/05/1946

A few minutes after take-off from Moreton Valence, the aircraft was seen approaching Defford in a shallow dive at about 450 knots and an altitude of 500 feet.

The aircraft banked sharply to port in a climbing turn, which generated pronounced wingtip vortices. At an altitude of approximately 1,500 feet, the starboard wing of Meteor EE518 detached, followed by the port wing, and then a general disintegration of the rest of the airframe.

The structural failure was caused by the centre section box structure being overloaded, and rows of rivets failing in sequence. The incident, and the accident investigation into it, resulted in a substantial redesign of the wings of the Gloster Meteor, as they were shortened by three feet. This had the effect of improving some handling characteristics, and reduced stress on the airframe. However, it also affected the rate of climb of the aircraft, reducing the Meteor's ultimate maximum flying ceiling, and increasing the landing speed.

Crew of Meteor EE518:
Mr Llewellyn Oliver MOSS (Chief Production Test Pilot) Gloster Aircraft, aged 51 - killed 9/5/46. The National Probate Calendar give the official location of his death as "Besford, Worcestershire"

Besford is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England. The village is near Pershore, off the road from Upton-upon-Severn.

Born 1895. After serving in the Dorsetshire Yeomanry in WW1, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. and remained in the R.A.F. Reserve. Flying Officer Moss relinquished his commission in the RAF on the 21-7-33. At the outbreak of WWII (3-9-39), he was considered, at 45, to be too old to fly with the R.A.F., and therefore, as an alternative, joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. Later, he was in charge of the A.T.A. Brockworth pool, and, in view of his good work, was employed in 1942 by Glosters as production test pilot on the Typhoon contract. He also carried out production tests on Meteors and had also helped with development work on this type. He was killed in the above test flying accident on 9-5-46.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft EA100-EZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1988 p 21)
4. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=173
5. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/crashes1946-49.htm
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/28/W2345: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578191
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?22021-460509-Unaccounted-Airmen-09-05-1946
8. http://ariadne-portal.dcu.gr/page/18284538
9. Air Britain Aeromilitaria Summer 2009 p.73: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf
10. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.99: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
11.https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/llewellyn-oliver-moss-24-2l5yqn0
12. https://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2012/01/llewellyn-oliver-moss-1985-1946.html
13. Llewellyn Oliver Moss (Service Records 1918-1928): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 79/2763/319385: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C12719706
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Defford
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besford

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Nov-2019 23:20	Dr. John Smith	Added
21-Nov-2019 23:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
15-Jul-2021 08:08	TB	Updated [Location, Operator]
16-Jul-2021 19:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Category]