Date:	Wednesday 9 August 1950
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	504 (County of Nottingham) Sqn RAF
Registration:	VT216
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 18 miles east of Spurn Head, East Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wymeswold, Loughborough, Leicestershire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VT216: Delivered 6-7-1948 to 6 MU RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. Undercarriage leg failed to lock down; bellylanded on grass, RAF Leuchars, Fife, 23.9.48 (pilot Flt/Lt M M Wyszkonski OK); To 32 MU RAF St. Athan 20.12.48 for repairs. To 504 (County of Nottingham) Sqn RAF 14.11.49, coded 'TM-H'

Written off (destroyed) 9-8-1950. The pilot became lost when flying in thick (8/8ths) cloud over the North Sea. The aircraft's radio then failed, and this denied the pilot the chance to get a Radio "fix" on his position. After running out of fuel, both engines failed (flamed out). The pilot - Squadron Leader J R M Merifield - successfully ditched the Meteor into the North Sea, 18 miles East of Spurn Head, East Yorkshire. The pilot survived the crash, and was rescued.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.105 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.73
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._504_Squadron_RAF#Into_the_jet_age
6. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p.174
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurn

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Dec-2020 00:56	Dr. John Smith	Added
28-Dec-2020 10:42	TB	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]