Date:	Friday 6 December 1957
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Javelin FAW Mk 5
Owner/operator:	AWDS RAF
Registration:	XA642
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 10 miles east of Skegness, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Javelin FAW.5 XA642: First flown 24/08/1956, delivered 22/03/1957. Sole operations service career was with the AWDS (All Weather Development Squadron) at RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk.

Written off (destroyed) 6/12/1957: Suffered a double flame out at 30,000ft and crashed into the North Sea ten miles off Skegness, Lincolnshire. Before impact the tail broke away following a fire in the rear fuselage. This rendered escape impossible and the crew were killed when the aircraft hit the water

The pilot had been freifed to undertake an air test after an engine change, and if all went well with the air test, rendezvous with another aircraft for a practice interception sortie. After apparently completing the air test successfully, and arranging to link up with the other aircraft, the pilot then called ATC on three different frequencies to say that there had been a double engine flame out. Nothing more was heard from Javelin XA642, and neither crew member ejected from the aircraft. Very little wreckage was recovered, but amongst the recovered wreckage was a ventral fuel tank with a turbine blade embedded in it, which would imply a catastrophic engine failure and break up, and an in-flight fire in the rear fuselage.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("South Shields Evening News" of December 14th 1957):

SHIELDS PILOT’S FIGHTER FOUND
Wreckage, believed to be that of a Javelin night fighter missing from West Raynham, Norfolk, has been found. The plane, which was piloted by a North Shields man, crashed into the sea about ten miles off the Lincolnshire coast on Dec. 6. The wreckage was found in the Wash by minesweepers.

The pilot, 29 year old Flt.-Lieut. Arthur Wright, of St. George’s Crescent, was born at North Shields and educated at Tynemouth High School. He was a member of Tynemouth Air Training Corps Squadron before gaining a cadetship at RAF College, Cranwell.

IN UNITED STATES
He graduated from Cranwell in 1949 and was awarded a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force. In June last year he returned to this country after two years with the United States Air Force as an exchange instructor. While in America he married. He had one child.

Flt.-Lt. Wright was on test work with the Javelin when it crashed. A memorial service is to be held at West Raynham."

Crew of Javelin XA642:
Flight Lieutenant Arthur Wright, RAF (pilot, Service Number 607060, aged 29) - killed on active service 6/12/1957
Flight Lieutenant Reginald Ashworth, RAF (navigator,Service Number 610474, aged 38) - killed on active service 6/12/1957

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 XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 7)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.272
4. South Shields Evening News December 14th 1957
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?25331-Javelin-XA642-accident-December-6th-1957
7. http://veterans.mod.uk/roll-of-honour.php?SerialNo=R4959
8. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1957
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XA

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Aug-2020 16:55	Dr. John Smith	Added
15-Aug-2020 16:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
15-Aug-2020 20:41	MiG15	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
28-Aug-2020 22:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]