Date:	Friday 14 October 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	56 (Punjab) Sqn RAF
Registration:	VW434
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Withypool, Exmoor, near Minehead, Somerset, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor VW434: Written off (destroyed) 14-10-1949 when crashed into rising ground at Withypool, Exmoor, near Minehead, Somerset. Both crew on board were killed.

The aircraft was being used for an instrument training sortie, and had been airborne for about 30 minutes. The aircraft struck a beech hedge which was about 10 feet tall, at a height or 1,300 feet amsl (above sea level) whilst travelling at high speed.

The aircraft turned to starboard, and struck the ground approximately a mile from the initial point of impact, after crossing a steep river valley, before colliding with a drystone wall and disintegrating. Wreckage from the Meteor struck a farm worker - a Mr. A. F. Buckingham - who was ploughing the field into which the Meteor crashed. He survived, but sustained severe injuries. The two crew were killed

Crew of Meteor VW434:
P/O Frank Foster (pilot) RAF - killed on active service 14-12-1949
F/O William Stuart McLehose (nav.) RAF - killed on active service 14-12-1949

Meteor T.7 VW434 formally Struck off charge 16-11-1949 as Cat.5(scrap). Withypool (formerly Widepolle, Widipol, or Withypoole) is a small village in Somerset, England, near the centre of Exmoor National Park and close to the border with Devon.

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.543
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._56_Squadron_RAF#Early_Cold_War_(1946%E2%80%931960)
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withypool

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