Date:	Wednesday 16 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB Mk I
Owner/operator:	266 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE328
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 3 miles off RAF Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Destination airport:	RAF Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.112 Venom FB.Mk.1, WE328, 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 16/9/53 when spun into the sea three miles off RAF Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Pilot killed.

The aircraft was returning from an air-to-air firing sortie at about 6,000 feet, when an explosion was seen, the aircraft broke up in flight, and the aircraft began to spin until it hit shallow water three miles off RAF Sylt. Parts of the aircraft were scattered up to three miles from the point of impact, but the cause of the structural failure in flight was never determined.

Pilot of Venom WE328
Flight Lieutenant John Robert Douglas Taylor, RAF (pilot, aged 25)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.150 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 412
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/175: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424296
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2656: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578502
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH112%20prodn%20list.txt

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Jun-2008 09:05	JINX	Added
18-Jun-2008 11:03	JINX	Updated
26-Jun-2013 10:41	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
06-Jan-2020 21:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Dec-2020 18:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]