Date:	Friday 20 March 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB Mk 1
Owner/operator:	5 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE277
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Emmerich am Rhein -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wunstorf, Germany (ETNW)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland Venom FB.Mk.1 WE277, 5 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 20/3/53 when crashed near Emmerich am Rhein, Nord Rhine Westphalia, West Germany. Pilot killed

The aircraft was number two in a pair, and the pilot was in radio contact with his leader as they climbed past 38,000 feet to 40,000 feet. The leader could not see nor contact his number two (WE277) on reaching the top of his climb, and the aircraft was subsequently found to have dived into the ground. It is presumed that the pilot suffered from anoxia (oxygen starvation) and lost control when he passed out.

Pilot of WE277:
Flying Officer Alan Stuart Ryde, RAF (Pilot, aged 23)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.142 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 352
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 32)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/143: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424264
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2623: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578469
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH112%20prodn%20list.txt
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmerich_am_Rhein

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Jun-2008 08:39	JINX	Added
04-Jun-2008 08:40	JINX	Updated
18-Jun-2008 00:54	JINX	Updated
28-May-2015 14:56	T.T.Taylor	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Embed code, Narrative]
06-Jan-2020 00:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Feb-2020 19:08	TB	Updated [Location]