Date:	Tuesday 28 June 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F.4
Owner/operator:	257 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VW783
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Serlby Park, near Retford, Nottinghamshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor VW783: Delivered 38 MU 5.1.48. To 257 Squadron RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire 25.5.48 coded 'A6-K'

Written off (destroyed) 28.6.49 when collided with Meteor F.4 VT148 (also of 257 Squadron) while in formation and abandoned near RAF Lindholme, Hatfield Woodhouse, South Yorkshire. Two Gloster Meteors F.4s VT148 and VW783) were aircraft numbers 3 and 4 in a four-aircraft formation. The number 4 aircraft (VT148) lost position in the formation while flying in 'echelon starboard' formation, during a gentle turn to port. The pilot realised that he would need to move from 'echelon starboard' to 'echelon port' if he was to regain his position in the formation.

However, in making the formation change, he struck the number 3 aircraft (Meteor F.4 VW783). Both aircraft sustained severe structural damage, and lost control. Meteor VT148 crashed near RAF Lindholme, Hatfield Woodhouse, South Yorkshire; Meteor VW783 attempted to make an emergency landing at RAF Finningley, but crashed short of the airfield.

Crew of Meteor VW783:
Pilot III (Warrant Officer) (1895316) Leonard Harold LEVENE (pilot) RAF - bailed out safely

Additional: The entry for 257 Squadron RAF in Wikipedia (see link #7) described the incident as follows...

"On 28 June 1949, two Meteors from the squadron - operating out of RAF Finningley to participate in a nine-day NATO operation called 'Exercise Foil', designed to test Britain's air defences - collided. Both pilots ejected. One was Flying officer A H Turner; the second Warrant Officer L H Levene. One aircraft" [VT148] "crashed at Hatfield Moor, Lindholme, near Doncaster, and the second" [VW783] "on a country estate near Retford called Serlby Park. A third Meteor, flown by F/O Hawes, also force-landed at Finningley due to undercarriage failure returning from the same mission to intercept 'enemy' USAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses over the North Sea. There were no ground casualties."

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. 257 Squadron ORB for the period 1.7.1947 to 31.12.1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2487/19: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8422541
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2010.pdf p.37
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=vw
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._257_Squadron_RAF#Post_War
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Finningley#Post_Second_World_War

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Mar-2023 08:17	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Aug-2023 21:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated