Date:	Tuesday 5 August 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk III
Owner/operator:	EFS RAF
Registration:	EE467
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor EE467: Delivered to the ECFS (Empire Central Flying School) 31.1.46. Cat. C (Repairable) damage when tail hit runway first on landing and damaged, Hullavington, 3.4.46. Repaired on site and returned to service. ECFS became EFS (Empire Flying School) at RAF Hullavington 7.5.46. Aircraft coded "FCW-K"

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 5.8.47: The pilot allowed the aircraft's airspeed to fall below the critical stalling speed on final approach to RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire. The Meteor stalled short of the runway, landed heavily, and the undercarriage broke off. The pilot then lifted off, made a further circuit of RAF Hullavington, and then made a wheels-up belly landing on the grass adjacent to the runway
Crew:
F/Lt (152166) Laurie Arthur Thomas BEST (pilot) RAFVR - survived OK

Not repaired; re-cat E 10.9.47 and struck off charge

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.326
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft EA100-EZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. EFS RAF ORB for the period 1-4-1942 to 31-5-1949: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/628: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4100337
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p.77
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_College_of_Air_Warfare#History
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Hullavington#Royal_Air_Force

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-May-2023 20:35	Dr. John Smith	Added