Date:	Tuesday 22 April 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F.4
Owner/operator:	Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd
Registration:	RA394
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RAF Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.4 RA394, Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd: Written off (destroyed) in a fatal flying accident 22/04/1947. One engine failed in a steep dive, and the pilot had great difficulty in handling the landing approach, finally stalling whilst climbing to avoid a tree. He was on the third and final test flight, when he had a starboard engine failure (always a critical situation in the Meteor). He tried to land in a very gusty crosswind condition and just did not make it. Aircraft yawed on overshoot and dived into the ground. Pilot killed. The "Straits Times" newspaper report (see link #9) adds that "Lt Bridge was pinned beneath the wreckage, He was dead when freed. The plane did not catch fire"

Pilot:
Lieutenant James Edward Bridge (Gloster's Development Test Pilot) RNVR aged 26 - killed

Although the pilot was ex-Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, he was a civilian test pilot at the time of death, hence records as to the exact date of death and where he was buried are lacking or contradictory. (He is not listed in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) database). However, there is a grave for one "James Edward Bridge" at the Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester. The date given (24 May 1947) was the date of the burial, not the date of death. It is not certain if this was the same person as the pilot of Meteor RA394.

The National Probate Calendar records that he died on April 22nd 1947 at Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire. His death was reported in several newspapers at the time, including the Western Morning News of April 23rd, which reported:

"Jet Test Pilot Killed
Mr. James Bridge, a test pilot, was killed yesterday while flying a Gloster Meteor jet plane at Moreton Valence aerodrome, near Gloucester."

Flight magazine (1 May 1947 issue, page 389) reported the incident thus:

"Gloster's Loss
LT. JAMES BRIDGE, a Gloster test pilot, was killed on April 22nd near Moreton Valence while testing a Meteor. Lt. Bridge served with the Fleet Air Arm during the war. Before demobilization, he attended the Empire Test Pilots' School. He leaves a wife but no children."

NOTE: 12 Gloster Meteors - RA384 to RA396 inclusive (except RA387) - had been diverted off the production line at Gloster Aircraft to fulfil an order for the Argentine Air Force (as Argentine Air Force Serials I-001 to I-011). It is therefore logical to presume that, if Meteor RA394 had been delivered, it would have been I-007 with the Argentine Air Force. Meteor RA370 was thus diverted from the Gloster Aircraft production line as a replacement aircraft

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.61. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=177
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?24109-470422-Unaccounted-Airmen-22-04-1947
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/29/W2375: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578221
5. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=52733
6. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155216859/james-edward-bridge
8. Flight Magazine 1 May 1947 page 389: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1947/1947%20-%200663.PDF
9. "Test Pilot Killed" The Straits Times, 24 April 1947, Page 3: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19470424-1.2.25.4
10. Aeromilitaria Autumn 2009 p.127: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Moreton_Valence

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Apr-2008 09:58	Nepa	Added
09-Apr-2010 11:42	Nepa	Updated [Registration, Narrative]
02-Dec-2011 10:03	Nepa	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
03-Dec-2011 12:10	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport]
21-Aug-2013 20:29	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Oct-2013 12:50	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
22-May-2014 09:03	Nepa	Updated [Narrative]
02-Sep-2014 14:10	Siczak	Updated [Location]
30-Jul-2015 18:53	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
25-Dec-2015 15:47	Gloug	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Feb-2018 11:13	TigerTimon	Updated [Aircraft type]
26-Jan-2019 14:18	Gloug	Updated [Date, Operator, Source, Narrative]
16-Jul-2019 06:30	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
20-Nov-2019 01:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
20-Nov-2019 21:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
24-Nov-2019 01:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
18-May-2023 14:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Source]]
17-Jul-2023 08:04	Nepa	Updated [[[Source]]]