Date:	Monday 24 April 1950
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	VW287
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Moulton Paddocks, 2 miles east of Newmarket, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VW287, 226 OCU, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 24/4/50 when dived into the ground at high speed shortly after take off. The wings came off during the dive, and it seems that the pilot lost control when flying on instruments or due to turbulence. Aircraft was on a GCI (Ground Controlled Interception) exercise; the pilot did not bail out, and was killed. Aircraft came down at Moulton Paddocks, 2 miles East of Newmarket, Suffolk

Crew of Meteor VW287
Pilot Officer Richard Warwick Jenkins, aged 21 - killed on active service 24/4/50

According to a contemporary local newspaper report dated 25 April 1950 (next day):

"An RAF jet “Meteor” fighter blew up in mid-air while flying over Newmarket, the pilot being killed instantly. The explosion, which shook the windows of houses and shops in the High Street, was seen by a large crowd of housewives who were out shopping. One witness said it completely broke up, folding into nothing. Only the fuselage held intact. The Meteor crashed into the ground some way off the Bury Road on the edge of Moulton Paddocks, and wreckage was strewn over an area a mile square"

1. Halley, James J (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.101. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 p 51
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/17: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424138
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/30/S2491: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578337
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
6. https://archive.org/stream/CambridgeshireAviationScrapbook1897To1990.doc/Cambridgeshire%20Aviation%20Scrapbook%201897%20to%201990.doc_djvu.txt
7.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Dec-2019 21:40	Dr. John Smith	Added
23-Dec-2019 20:48	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]