Date:	Tuesday 21 April 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	229 OCU RAF
Registration:	WA230
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lynmouth Bay, 2 miles NW of Lynton, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 WA230, 229 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), RAF: delivered 2/10/1950. Written off 21/4/1953 when crashed into Lynmouth Bay, two miles North West of Lynton, Devon.

The pilot was assigned for a sorite of air-to-air firing on a towed banner target off the coast of North Devon, using a cine-gun camera. After carrying out three such practice attacks, all seemed to be going well. However, on the fourth practice attack, the pilot made too steep a turn on the banner target, and the aircraft stalled, while increasing the rate of turn. This caused Vampire WA230 to dive into the sea at Lynmouth Bay. The pilot did not bail out, and was killed.

Crew of Vampire WA230:
Pilot Officer (4036651) Alister Bramwell NUNN (pilot) RAF - killed in service 21/4/1953

The reported crash site was two miles off the coast, in Lynmouth Bay. Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge 700 feet (210 m) below Lynton, Devon. Lynton is a small town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district of the county of Devon, England, approximately 17 miles (27 km) north-east of Barnstaple and 18 miles (29 km) west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p 144 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 362
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. 229 OCU ORB (Operation Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2167 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101877
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynton
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynmouth
10. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39479/supplement/1178/data.pdf
11. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39739/supplement/56/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Mar-2008 00:05	JINX	Added
17-May-2015 06:40	MiG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Source]
09-Jan-2020 21:33	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Nature, Operator]
25-Apr-2021 19:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Apr-2021 19:54	Jixn	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
25-Sep-2021 18:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Category]
25-Sep-2021 22:00	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
25-Sep-2021 22:01	Nepa	Updated [Operator]