Date:	Friday 6 June 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	207 AFS RAF
Registration:	VT336
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Burwell Wood, East Lindsey, south of RAF Manby, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Manby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F4, VT336, 207 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF: delivered 9/11/1948. Written off 6/6/1952, when crashed at Burwell Wood, East Lindsey, south of RAF Manby, Lincolnshire at approximate co ordinates: 53.309 N,0.0462 E.

The aircraft took off from RAF Manby on a long range navigation sortie, fitted with long range fuel tanks. The objective of the mission was to practice spot navigation fixes and let downs to airfields en route. After one hour's flying time, the pilot called for a course to return to base on the approach freqiuency. The course vector was passed to the pilot of Meteor VT336 by ATC (Air Traffic Control), but nothing further was heard from the pilot.

The aircraft was next seen diving out of cloud at an angle of 45 degrees while inverted. The aircraft came down at Burwell Wood, East Lindsey, South of RAF Manby, Lincolnshire.

The probable cause of the accident was the pilot losing control of his aircraft while flying in cloud (IFR conditions), despite the fact that he had already been briefed NOT to fly in cloud during this sortie. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor VT336
Pilot Officer Paul Robert Fletcher (pilot) RAF - killed 6/6/1952

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.127 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.254
4. 207 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/12/1951 to 31/7/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 29/2146/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162861
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
6. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205085770
7. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1952
8. Four Gloster Meteor F.4s (VT328, VT240, VT336 and VT273) of 263 Squadron in a stepped echelon formation in 1950: https://www.key.aero/article/station-history-raf-wattisham

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Mar-2021 19:52	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Mar-2021 09:45	Zoule	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]