Date:	Sunday 27 July 1952
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	112 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA283
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wivelsfield, 2 miles South West of Haywards Heath, West Sussex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Odiham, Basingstoke, Hampshire (ODH/EGVO)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk.5 WA283/"T-F", 112 Squadron, RAF: delivered 1/12/1950. Written off 27/7/1952: Failed to recover from an unauthorised attack on a civilian Dominie and crashed at Wivlesfield, two miles South West of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, killing the pilot, Pilot Officer C R Donaldson. Robin Brown's book "Shark Squadron" tells a slightly different tale:

"The Squadron's first fatal accident occurred during a detachment to RAF Odiham on 27 July 1952 when P/O C R Donaldson flying No 2 to F/O Keith Williamson was involved in a dog-fight with the Odiham Meteors. He appears to have lost control and dived away vertically, startling a passing Anson pilot who though he was being bounced, but the Vampire never pulled out."

Pilot:
Pilot Officer Colin Robert Donaldson RAF (pilot, aged 20) killed on duty 27/7/1952

112 Squadron was normally based at this time at RAF Jever, West Germany; however, on this occasion, the squadron was detached to RAF Odiham, Basingstoke, Hampshire for DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training) with the locally-based Meteors of RAF Odiham

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p 131 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 273
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. Shark Squadron - The history of 112 Squadron 1917-1975 by Robin Brown (Crecy Publishing, ISBN: 9780947554330)
5. 112 Sqaudron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/5/1951 to 31/12/1951: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2643/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8425655
6. http://www.rafjever.org/112squadaircraft.htm
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wivelsfield

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-May-2008 15:11	JINX	Added
08-Jun-2008 14:55	JINX	Updated
13-Aug-2013 16:00	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
16-Mar-2021 20:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Mar-2021 20:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn]
16-Mar-2021 20:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]