Date:	Thursday 24 April 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	VW269
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bridlington Bay, off Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Carnaby, Bridlington, East Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Carnaby, Bridlington, East Yorkshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
VW269, Gloster Meteor F4, 203 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF: delivered 3/1/1949. Written off 24/04/1952 when crashed near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. The pilot was carrying out a controlled decent under supervision from the ATC (Air Traffic Control) at RAF Carnaby, when he reported instrument failure (in particular, the gyros toppling). The Gloster Meteor crashed into Bridlington Bay, off Bridlington, East Yorkshire

The likely cause of the accident was loss of control of the aircraft by the pilot while flying in cloud, which caused the failure of the D/F (Direction Finder) equipment. As the pilot was inexperienced in this situation, he was unable to regain control. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor VW269
Pilot Officer George Hendry, RAF (pilot, aged 19) - killed on duty 24/4/1952

The memorial plaque on the Oyne* War Memorial at Oyne Parish Church for Pilot Officer George Hendry was dedicated at the Remembrance Sunday Service in 2015 (11/11/2015). According to a posting on Facebook (see link #5):

"INSCH-LESLIE-PREMNAY-OYNE Parish Church has a special Remembrance Service at 10.30 am" [on November 11 2015] "at which a plaque will be unveiled and dedicated to Pilot Officer George Hendry from Oyne who died in his Meteor aeroplane which went unexplainably out of control and crashed into Bridlington Bay on the 24th April 1952. He was only nineteen years old. He was the fourth of the five children of George Hendry, the headmaster of Oyne School, and his wife Florence.

George’s youngest sister, Mrs Maggie Gerrard and her husband Bill, along with his sister-in-law Sheila and nephew Alec and friends will be attending the service."

*Oyne is a small village in rural Aberdeenshire at the bottom of Bennachie in Scotland.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.126 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.239
4. 203 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2145/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162858
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
6. https://www.facebook.com/899178166803835/posts/insch-leslie-premnay-oyne-parish-church-has-a-special-remembrance-service-at-103/917003965021255/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridlington
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyne

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Mar-2021 19:56	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Mar-2021 20:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
04-Mar-2021 20:32	Froome	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]