Date:	Thursday 26 February 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk III
Owner/operator:	266 Sqn RAF
Registration:	EE475
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor EE475: Delivered to 39 MU RAF Colerene, Chippenham, Wiltshire 18.2.46. Issued to 234 Squadron, RAF Boxted, Essex 16.4.46 as 'FX-C'; unit became 266 Squadron 1.9.46 still coded 'FX-C' and still at RAF Boxted, Essex. Squadron moved RAF Tangmere from 16.4.47

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 26.2.48 when undercarriage collapsed in heavy landing, Tangmere; the pilot did not 'hold off' from final touchdown at RAF Tangmere, and the Meteor struck the ground heavily, nose first. The undercarriage collapsed, and the aircraft quickly slid to aq halt along the Tangmere runway.
Damage initially assessed as Cat. B; re-cat E 16.9.48 and airframe struck off charge

Crew:
P.II L H C Clare (pilot) RAF : OK.

With the end of the war, 234 Squadron reverted to Spitfire Mk. IXs and was retained as part of the post-war RAF. Jets arrived in February 1946, when Meteor F.3s replaced the Spitfires, but 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.377
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 p.77
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._234_Squadron_RAF#Post-war_era:_from_Spitfires_to_jets
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._266_Squadron_RAF#Into_the_jet_age
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tangmere#Postwar

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