Date:	Friday 4 June 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	CFE RAF
Registration:	RA477
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Sporle with Palgrave, 2 miles north of Swaffham, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor RA447: Delivered to the CFE (Central Fighter Establishment), RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk 27.10.47.

Written off (destroyed) when dived into ground out of cloud, Sporle with Palgrave, 2 miles North of Swaffham, Norfolk, 4.6.48; the Meteor emerged from cloud in a vertical dive, and plunged straight into the ground.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry deemed that the cause of the crash was one of two possibilities; either the pilot lost control of his aircraft in cloud, while flying on instruments, or that there was an instrument failure caused by air leaks in the pressure system. An additional possibility was the pilot losing consciousness and passing out due to anoxia (oxygen starvation)
Crew of Meteor RA477:
F/Lt (125580) William SMITH DFC (Pilot) RAF: killed in active service 4-6-48

Sporle with Palgrave is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, two miles north of Swaffham, on the A1065 road. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland.

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.401
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. ORB CFE RAF for the period 1-1-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PTO Kew) File AIR29/1348: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101058
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p.129
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Fighter_Establishment
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporle_with_Palgrave

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Apr-2023 17:45	Dr. John Smith	Added