Date:	Wednesday 28 May 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor PR Mk 10
Owner/operator:	231 OCU RAF
Registration:	WB158
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wendy, Cambridgeshire, 5 miles NW of Royston, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor PR10, WB158, 231 OCU, RAF: delivered 20/4/1951. Written off 28/05/1952, when crashed at Wendy, Cambridgeshire, 5 miles North West of Royston, Hertfordshire. Meteor WB158 was approaching RAF Bassingbourn in order to land, but the runway was obstructed by another aircraft already on the runway. The runway controller fired a red VEREY warning flare, to signal to the pilot of Meteor WB158 that he should abort the landing, and go around again while the runway at Bassingbourn was cleared.

The pilot of Meteor WB158 atemtped an asymmetric (single engine) overshoot from his approach, while flying at below critical safe airspeed. However, due the aircraft flying at such a low airspeed, the pilot lost control, and the aircraft dived into the ground at Wendy, Cambridgeshire. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor WB158:
Pilot Officer (3117135) George Malcolm Cowper (pilot) RAF - killed 28/5/1952

The reported crash location of Wendy is a hamlet in the civil parish of Shingay cum Wendy in South Cambridgeshire, England around 5 miles north west of Royston. Wendy was a separate parish until 1957 when it was merged with neighbouring Shingay to form the present civil parish of Shingay cum Wendy. RAF Bassingbourn covers a sizeable portion of the southern part of the parish

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.127 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.247
4. 231 OCU ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/12/1951 to 31/8/1952: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 29/2173 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101883
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WB
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy,_Cambridgeshire

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Jun-2008 00:55	JINX	Added
07-Jun-2008 10:33	JINX	Updated
12-May-2015 08:27	AlLah	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
08-Mar-2021 22:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Mar-2021 10:33	sicak	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]