Date:	Tuesday 3 July 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	65 (East India) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA985
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles north of RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor WA985, 65 Squadron, RAF: delivered 10/4/1951. Written off (destroyed) 3/07/1951, when collided with VZ569, another Gloster Meteor F.8 of 65 Squadron in the vicinity of RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire.

Meteor WA985 was part of a formation of 65 Squadron Meteors that were attacking another flight of Meteors, with the latter flight acting as "enemy aircraft". Meteor WA985 was involved in a mid air collision with Meteor VZ569, and struck VZ569 from below and behind, at an altitude of approximately 3,000 feet.

During the mock attack, the pilot of Meteor WA985 announced he would attack the formation leader, but he failed to pull away from the mock attack in time, and collided with the other Meteor.

Although the pilot of Meteor WA985 attempted to leave the aircraft, and managed to use his ejector seat to leave the Meteor, the pilot failed to separate from the seat, and was killed.

Crew of Meteor WA985:
Flight Lieutenant (191165) Ronald Edgar JAQUEST, RAF (pilot, aged 27) - killed 3/7/1951

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.115 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.154
4. 65 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/51 to 31/12/55: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2626/3 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424986
5. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1951
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 20:45	JINX	Added
12-Jun-2008 08:44	JINX	Updated
27-May-2013 06:09	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase]
02-Feb-2021 01:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]