Date:	Wednesday 2 February 1955
Time:	08:30 LT
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	12 FTS RAF
Registration:	WL408
MSN:	G5/423761
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Durston, 5 miles NE of Taunton, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset.
Destination airport:	RAF Weston Zoyland, Somerset.
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WL408: Notified as awaiting collection 13/7/52, delivered 18/7/52. RAF career was with 205 AFS and 12 FTS at RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset.

Written off (destroyed) 2/2/55: Both pilot were experienced Flight Instructors, and were engaged on their monthly staff continuation training flight when the accident took place. The aircraft took off from RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset, at 08:15 am, and fifteen minutes later (at 08:30 am) the pilot radioed for permission to enter the low flying area around RAF Weston Zoyland. The flying conditions were perfect, but, without warning, the Meteor went into a dive from an altitude of 350 feet, and flew into the ground at Durston, 5 miles NE of Taunton, Somerset. Both crew were killed. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Western Gazette" - 3 February 1955):

"In its fatal dive, the aircraft passed diagonally over the main road from the North-West, narrowly missing a house and an adjoining Fir Tree, but cutting the telephone wires and cables on the opposite side of the road, and consequently putting the local telephone system out of action.

When the plane first struck the ground it partially demolished an iron and timber shed belonging to Mr. E.H.Liddon, a forestry contractor, who lives nearby, and then tore through one orchard and into another. The aircraft then struck an oak tree, exploded and caught fire, over an area of about 40 yards".

The reported crash location of Durston is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the A361 road 5 miles (8.0 km) north east of Taunton and 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Bridgwater in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish lies on undulating ground between the lowest slopes of the Quantock Hills and the valley of the River Tone at the Curry and Hay Moors at approximate co ordinates 51.0515°N 3.0071°W

As stated above, both crew were killed. The crew of Meteor T.Mk.7 WL408 were:
Flight Lieutenant Iain Hastings RAF (QFI Flight Instructor, pilot, Service Number 183367, aged 32) - killed on active service 2/2/55, buried at Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset
Flying Officer John Harold Marvin RAF (Flight Instructor, passenger, Service Number 3507713, aged 25) - killed on active service 2/2/55, buried Shepshed Cemetery, Leicestershire

1. Western Gazette - 3 February 1955
2. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
3. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.168 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
4. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.73)
5. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.116
6. The Gloster Meteor in British Service By Martin Derry
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WL
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durston

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-May-2020 18:08	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-May-2020 21:50	MIG29	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]