Date:	Tuesday 25 March 1947
Time:
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk III
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	EE296
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Bentwaters, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F. III EE296: Delivered to 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron 27.4.45 at Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands. To 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron 3.5.45; unit became 245 Squadron, RAF Colerene, Chippenham, Wiltshire 10.8.45 coded 'MR-T'. Hit by ricochet during air-to-ground firing, 6.3.46; To Gloster Aircraft at Hucclecote, Gloucestershire 8.4.46 for repairs. To 1335 CU RAF Molesworth, Cambridgeshire 15.7.46; unit became 226 OCU 15.8.46, and moved to RAF Bentwaters, Woodbridge, Suffolk 11.10.46

Written off (damaged beyond repair) when undercarriage leg collapsed in heavy landing, RAF Bentwaters, Woodbridge, Suffolk 25.3.47. The pilot 'held off' from committing to a landing for too long, and at too high an altitude, before the aircraft stalled and hit the ground, causing the port undercarriage to collapse.
Crew:
F/O G.W HILL (pilot) RAF- survived OK.

Damage initially assessed as Cat B; re-cat E 4.11.47 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.284
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.71
5. 226 OCU RAF ORB 31-8-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/1632: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101342
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._226_Operational_Conversion_Unit_RAF#Operational_history
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bentwaters#Second_World_War

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-May-2023 21:20	Dr. John Smith	Added
19-May-2023 21:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated