Date:	Monday 18 February 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	64 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA996
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F8, WA996, 64 Squadron RAF: delivered 2/5/1951. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 18/2/1952, in a landing accident at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk. On take off from RAF Wattisham, the port wheel of Meteor WA996 shed its tyre. The pilot attempted a landing with the aircraft in this condition, but the aircraft swung off the runway, and so the pilot decided to make a "wheels up" belly landing on the grass beside the runway.

However, the aircraft's radio had failed, and, due to this, ATC (Air Traffic Control) were unable to warn the pilot that there was PSP (Pierced Steel Planking) beneath the grass beside the runway. When the Meteor touched down on the "grass", serious damage to the underside of the airframe was done due to the aircraft landing on a metal PSP "carpet". The aircraft was a write-off, but pilot was apparently uninjured.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.124 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.221
4. 64 Squadron ORB (Operations Records Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) For the period January 1 1951 to December 31 1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2626/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424985
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
7. http://www.wattisham.org.uk/wattisham_aviation_accidents.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Feb-2021 20:38	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Feb-2021 09:33	Quenten74	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]