Date:	Thursday 21 June 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hunter F Mk 5
Owner/operator:	1 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WP138
MSN:	S4/U/3017
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon (EGDC)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hawker Hunter F.Mk.5 WP138: Delivered 24/5/55. Sole RAF service career was with 1 Squadron, RAF Tangmere, coded "T".

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 21/6/55: The aircraft was engaged in a cross country flight from RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex. At an altitude of 45,000 feet over Devon, the engine failed, and the pilot made a MAYDAY call. ATC (Air Traffic Control) advised the pilot to divert to RAF Chivenor for an emergency "engine out" landing. Shortly afterwards, the Hunter arrived overhead at Chivenor at 20,000 feet.

Despite low cloud, and being advised to eject, the pilot attempted to land his aircraft, and began a descent through a break in the clouds. The aircraft emerged through the clouds at 1,200 feet, with RAF Chivenor behind it, and to starboard.

However, during final approach the runway was blocked by another aircraft. With the selected runway in use, the pilot opted to try and land the Hunter on the grass alongside the runway. However, the Hunter touched down further down the runway than intended. The aircraft then overshot the landing and was damaged beyond repair when it "ran out airfield", and crashed through the perimeter fence into an adjoining field. The pilot - Lieutenant M L Brown RN - sustained only minor injuries.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.180 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 81)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.199-200
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
5. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WP

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2009 11:55	ASN archive	Added
05-Dec-2011 14:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Aug-2012 08:36	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
21-Jun-2020 22:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]