Date:	Tuesday 7 October 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk III
Owner/operator:	222 (Natal) Sqn RAF
Registration:	EE457
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Tangmere, West Sussex

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor EE457: Taken on charge by CRD MoS (Controller, Research & Development, Ministry of Supply) at Gloster Aircraft, Hucclecote 14.1.46. To 222 Squadron RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex 11.4.47 coded 'ZD-Q'.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 7.11.47 when engine cut and overshot landing in haze and caught fire, RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex. The Meteor was approaching to land at RAF Tangmere due to an engine failure, caused by turbine blade failure.

The weather conditions were hazy, and the pilot allowed the aircraft to overshoot the runway, where it ran into the boundary fence, struck a concrete block, which ruptured the ventral tank. The fuel leaking from the damaged ventral tank then caught fire
Crew:
Pilot.II R SHANKS (pilot) RAF- survived OK

Damage initially assessed as Cat. B (Repairable). Not repaired, re-cat. E 31.10.47 and struck off charge

It is notable that the above incident was one of two (the other involved Meteor EE423) that involved the same type of aircraft (Gloster Meteor) of the same unit (222 Squadron) on the same day (7-10-47) at the same airbase (RAF Tangmere) and the cause of the accident was the same (engine failure due to turbine blade failure)

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 1946-1949 by Colin Cummings p.341
3. 222 Sqn ORB for the period 1-6-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2475: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505113
4. Royal Air Force Aircraft EA100-EZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
5. Air Britain Aeromilitaria Summer 2009: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p.76
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._222_Squadron_RAF
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tangmere#Postwar

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-May-2023 16:02	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-May-2023 16:53	Nepa	Updated