Date:	Saturday 3 April 1948
Time:
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk III
Owner/operator:	266 Sqn RAF
Registration:	EE294
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor EE294: Delivered to 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, Gilze-Rijen. Netherlands 27.4.45. To 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron 3.5.45; unit became 245 Squadron 10.8.45 and aircraft coded 'MR-R'. To 257 Squadron, RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire 3.10.46 coded 'A6-F'. To 266 Squadron, RAF Tangmere, West Sussex 11.3.48.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 3.4.48 when engine lost power, but wrong engine shut down; bellylanded in field near Tangmere, West Sussex.

The aircraft was flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet on an aerobatics and homing sortie. The pilot felt a severe 'bang', and the cockpit filled with kerosene fumes. The pilot reacted by closing down the starboard engine, and increasing power on the port engine to compensate. However, serious vibrations were encountered, and the starboard engine would not relight. The pilot then closed the port engine throttle, and the unpowered Meteor then carried out a wheels-up forced landing in a field near RAF Tangmere. No reported injuries to the pilot of Meteor EE294.

Damaged assessed as FACE (Flying Accident Cat. E) and struck of charge 5.5.48.

266 Squadron re-formed at RAF Boxted, Essex on 1.9.46 when 234 Squadron was renumbered. It became a fighter squadron operating the Meteor F.3 twin-jet fighter. After a move to RAF Tangmere, Sussex on 16-4-47, the squadron converted to Meteor F.4s form February 1948. The squadron was disbanded when it was re-numbered 43 Squadron on 11.2.49.

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.383
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft EA100-EZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. Air Britain Aeromilitaria Summer 2009: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p71
5. 266 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-7-47 to 31-1-1949: File Air 27/2491/21: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8422588
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._266_Squadron_RAF#Into_the_jet_age
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tangmere#Postwar

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Apr-2023 16:52	Dr. John Smith	Added