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Date: | Wednesday 20 November 1957 |
Time: | night |
Type: | Gloster Meteor NF Mk 14 |
Owner/operator: | 64 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | WS830 |
MSN: | AWA. |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Wicken Fen, 3 miles East of Upware, Cambridgeshire, England -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Gloster Meteor NF.14 WS830: Delivered 8/4/1954. Operational service career was with 46 Squadron, RAF Odiham, Hampshire (as "H"), 72 Squadron, RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire, and 64 Squadron, RAF Waterbeach. When in service as H/46 Squadron in 1956-57, it was "adopted" as the "personal" aircraft of the 46 Squadron Commanding Officer; due to this WS830 had the fin painted black, with the individual aircraft letter "H" in yellow [see links #6 & #10]
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20/11/1957: The pilot abandoned the aircraft after control was lost at night over Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. Aircraft came down at Wicken Fen, three miles east of Upware, Cambridgeshire, after both crew had bailed out successfully.
Crew of Meteor WS830:
Flight Lieutenant W.C.King, MBE, RAF (pilot, Service Number 206805)
Flying Officer J.W. Richardson, RAF (navigator)
Note that the official Board of Inquiry report into the incident (File AVIA 5/37/S2903) at the National Archives at Kew gives the crash location as "Meteor NF14 (WS-830). Location: Waterbeach. Report No: S2903" [sic]. However, RAF Waterbeach was where WS830 took off FROM, and not where it crashed. Wicken Fen, where the Meteor actually come down, is some 11 miles north east of RAF Waterbeach.
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.194 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 93)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.271
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/37/S2903:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578683 5.
http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm 6. Meteor WS830 as H/46 Squadron, 1954:
http://www.aviationretaildirect.com/models/sf294-skyfame-models-1-200-gloster-meteor-nf-14-raf-ws830-h-46-sqn-waterbeach/ 7. WS830 when with 64 Squadron:
https://www.fs2000.org/2013/11/01/fsx-meteor-nf14-ws830/ 8.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WS 9.
https://rcbookcase.com/data/media/6/10AeroModeller_October_1955.pdf 10.
http://www.aviationbanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=73487&d=1423924392 11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicken_Fen 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upware .
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
13-Aug-2020 22:58 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
14-Aug-2020 08:50 |
T.T.Taylor |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator] |
15-Aug-2020 21:15 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
23-Aug-2020 23:33 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
23-Aug-2020 23:38 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |