Date:	Wednesday 23 November 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	VW476
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor VW476: Delivered July 1949. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 23/11/1949 when crashed on approach to RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk

Meteor VW476 was leading another Meteor, which had a faulty ASI (Air Speed Indicator) into landing at RAF Shepherds Grove. The pilot of Meteor VW476 missed the final turn to land at RAF Shepherds Grove, and therefore tightened up his turn to regain alignment with the approach path, The second aircraft (the one with the faulty ASI) overshot the turn and passed beneath Meteor VW476, before landing safely at RAF Shepherds Grove.

Meteor VW476 however, stalled and dived into the ground while turning, and crashed near the right-hand side of the runway at RAF Shepherds Grove, with the undercarriage still retracted. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor VW476
Pilot II (3110036) Donald SMITH (pilot) RAF- killed on active service 23/11/1949

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.556
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._226_Operational_Conversion_Unit_RAF
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Shepherds_Grove

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