Date:	Monday 14 January 1957
Time:	16:00
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	233 OCU RAF
Registration:	WE887
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	4 miles ENE of Worms Head, Gower Peninsula, Glamorgan, Wales -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Pembrey, Carmarthenshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor WE887: Delivered 19/6/1951. Operational Service career was with the CGS (Central Gunner School) and the FWS (Fighter Weapons School, both based at RAF Leconfield, North Yorkshire, and then as "J" of 233 OCU

Written off (Destroyed) 14/1/57 when collided with Gloster Meteor F 8 WH457 of the FWS in formation (as the leader of a pair of two, with WH457 as the number two) and was abandoned 4 miles east-northeast of Worms Head, Gower Peninsula, Glamorgan. Pilot Flight Lieutenant R W Hayes ejected through the canopy at 1,800 feet, but the drogue 'chute failed to deploy, and he was killed on impact with the ground

Crew of Meteor WE887
Flight Lieutenant Ralph William Hayes, RAF (pilot, aged 27) - killed on active service 14/1/1957 as per the above

The other Meteor involved, WH457, landed safely back at RAF Pembrey and was repaired

1. Hilley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.184 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 36)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.230
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194235/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1957.htm#jan
6. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhossili#Rhossili_Bay

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 15:43	JINX	Added
29-Jun-2011 03:24	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Jan-2012 14:07	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
21-May-2014 15:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
21-May-2014 15:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Narrative]
28-Jun-2014 10:04	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
10-May-2015 16:45	Angel Dick one	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
24-May-2019 01:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source]
30-May-2019 15:35	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
17-Jul-2020 20:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
17-Jul-2020 22:32	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
23-Jul-2021 20:37	Anon.	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Operator]