Date:	Monday 2 February 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	209 AFS RAF
Registration:	VT265
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles north east of RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset
Destination airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4, VT265, 209 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF: delivered 29/09/1948, and served with 1 Squadron, RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex as "JX-G" (later "B") in 1948-49. Later service in 1950-52 wih 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron, and 500 (County of Kent) Squadron Written off (destroyed) 2/2/1953 when in service with 209 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Sedgemoor, Somerset.

The aircraft rejoined the circuit of RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire, but while doing this, flew into a shower of sleet. The pilot - who was on only his fifth solo flight in a Meteor - lost control in reduced visibility of the sleet shower, and the aircraft dived vertically into the ground, two miles North East of RAF Oakington. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor VT265:
Pilot Officer John Arthur STEPHENS (pilot) RAF - killed in service 2/2/1953, buried in the Churchyard of the Congregational Church, Long Buckby, Staffordshire.

The subsequent RAF Board of Inquiry concluded that the primary cause of the incident was that a period of twenty five days had elasped since the pilot had taken the dual-crewed sortie in a Meteor T.Mk.7, which was preparatory to this solo flight. There was also evidence that the pilot had not undertaken this solo flight exactly as he had been breifed, and that the deviation from the breifed flight was also a factor.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p.84)
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4. p 141)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.336
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. 209 AFS ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/7/1952 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2148/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162862
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
7. http://branches.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/northampton/post-1945-northamptonshire-roll-of-honour

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Apr-2021 15:37	Dr. John Smith	Added
11-Apr-2021 15:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
12-Apr-2021 18:29	Jouda42	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]