Date:	Tuesday 9 October 1956
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	229 OCU RAF
Registration:	WA226
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Brayford, Exmoor, 8 miles east of Barnstaple, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon (EGDC)
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Devon (EGDC)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 WA226: Delivered 4/10/1950. RAF Service career was with 94 Squadron, 16 Squadron, and 226 OCU

Written off (destroyed) 9/10/1956; The pilot had completed an air to air gun firing sortie over the Bristol Channel, and upon completion of this sortie, radioed for a course to steer back to base at RAF Chivenor. However, he appears to have not followed instructions, and eventually the aircraft ran out of fuel. This caused the pilot to attempt a forced landing, but during this forced "engine out" landing, the aircraft struck trees near Brayford, Exmoor, eight miles East of Barnstaple, Devon and crashed. The Iraqi Air Force trainee pilot was killed.

Crew of Vampire WA226:
Second Lieutenant B.A. Majeed (pilot, Royal Iraqi Air Force, aged 22) - killed on active service 9/10/1956

The reported crash location is near Brayford, a village and civil parish in Devon, England, situated about 5 miles (8.0 km) from South Molton and 6 miles (9.7 km) from Barnstaple. It lies on Exmoor and sits beneath open areas of common land at approximate co ordinates 51.09°N 03.88°W.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.183 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 9)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.215-216
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brayford

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Mar-2008 23:59	JINX	Added
08-Jun-2008 21:30	JINX	Updated
18-May-2015 18:05	MiG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
12-Jul-2020 22:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
05-Jul-2022 11:29	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]