Date:	Saturday 22 August 1953
Time:	06:00 LT
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	222 (Natal) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA933
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	New Gilston, 3 miles North of Upper Largo, Fife -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife (ADX/EGQL)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WA933: delivered 16/04/1951. First service with 600 (City of London) Squadron RAF coded "O". Then to 222 (Natal Sqaudron) RAF. Written off 22/8/1953: The pilot of this Gloster Meteor had taken off from RAF Leuchars at around 6 am to take part in air exercises, (as the number two in a paired take off, with Meteor F.Mk.8 WK861 (also of 222 Squadron) as the leader) and crashed at New Gilston, 3 miles North of Upper Largo, Fife

According to contemporary local newspaper reports ("Dundee Courier" 24 August 1953; "Fife Herald" 26 August 1953; "St Andrews" Citizen 29 August 1953; "Aberdeen Evening Express" 22 August 1953):

"On Saturday 22 August [1953] a Gloster Meteor aircraft, which had taken off from RAF Leuchars only ninety seconds before, crashed into the Post Office in the early morning around 6 am. The pilot was instantly killed. He was 21-year-old Flying Officer David Ernest Rock (born in Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1932). Amazingly, no one on the ground was seriously hurt.

The jet which crashed had been flying with a second plane and both had begun to descend from 2000 feet, thinking they were over the sea. In fact they were over the highest village in Fife. The lead aircraft saw ground and pulled up striking some trees and eventually returned to base. The second jet struck the upper storey of the Post Office building and broke up. Occupants of the building, Mr and Mrs Andrew Laing Ramage, had been asleep on the ground floor at the time.

Wreckage was strewn about the village, the blast broke several windows, live ammunition was scattered about, the school roof was damaged and a neighbouring cottage had its chimney knocked off the roof. Andrew Ramage described how he and his wife Christina initially thought that their house had been struck by lightning. When the roof collapsed they were immediately covered in plaster and could not speak for the dust in their mouths. First they tried to get out of the door that led to the shop but found that it was blocked with rubble. Instead they made for the front door but could not get past the flames, so finally they smashed a window in order to get outside, with help from lime quarry worker Alexander Barclay. Their only injuries were cuts from the broken window glass. The only possessions they had left were the night clothes they were wearing.

All but one of the local phone lines was taken down by the accident. The school house line was still intact and was used to call the fire brigade. Engines came from St Andrews, Cupar, Methil and from R.A.F. Leuchars. Mrs Christian Randall, who lived at the school house with her two children took in the Ramages. Firemen recovered very little from the site - only some charred bank notes, some blackened coins and an intact case of 12 bottles of whisky.

On the Monday, Mr and Mrs Ramage moved into a nearby cottage and their friends and neighbours rallied around to provide them with clothes, furniture and bedding. Their shop delivery van survived and was out delivering newspapers as usual the day after the crash - driven by a friend. Mr and Mrs Ramage took some time off to recover from their ordeal (which had come only months after they had lost their only son in a motor accident at Teasses Toll). The Post Office eventually moved to the other end of the village, where it was run by a Mrs Winton".

Crew of Meteor F.Mk.8 WA933:
Flying Officer David Ernest Rock, RAF (pilot, aged 21) - killed in service 22/8/1953. He was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1932.

In the northern part of the parish of Largo lies New Gilston, a village 3 miles north of Upper Largo, surrounded by agricultural land. It has the distinction of being the highest inhabited village in Fife.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.149 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.406
4. 222 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2475 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505113
5. https://lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/jet-crash-at-new-gilston
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largo,_Fife

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 20:14	JINX	Added
09-Jun-2008 11:46	JINX	Updated
19-Jan-2012 02:24	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source]
26-Oct-2017 00:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2021 14:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2021 14:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
12-May-2021 15:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2021 15:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]