Date:	Thursday 5 February 1953
Time:
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	41 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE957
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	One mile north-east of RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
WE957: Delivered to the RAF 24.4.51. First issued to 41 Squadron 2.5.51 coded Y; hit by WA789 during mock dogfight with Sabres over Braintree, Essex; landed safely,31.7.52. (Pilot - Flying Officer M.R. Holmes - survived OK). Damage assessed as Cat 3(R). Repaired On Site and returned to 41 Squadron 11.12.52.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 5.2.53: Damaged by shot-away fragments of a towed banner target; the lead balance weight built into the target had come loose from the towed banner target, and struck the leading edge of the starboard wing of Meteor WE957, causing damage to the engine controls embeded in the wing of the Meteor.

In the subsequent emergency landing, Meteor WE957 overshot RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent, during a forced landing and ended up in a field one mile North East of the airfield; the Pilot - Flying Officer M.R.Holmes (208462) - was injured. Meteor WE957 was deemed to be "beyond economic repair" and struck off charge as Cat 5(s)

The pilot not only survived this incident, but continued to serve in the RAF until finally retiring 27 years later, on 15.12.79 (see link #6)

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 by Colin Cummings p 339
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 39)
4. 41 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2612/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424251
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48163/supplement/5968/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 22:30	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 09:17	Victor III	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
28-May-2017 23:48	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Jul-2019 06:57	angels one five	Updated [Location]
11-Apr-2021 18:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
29-Apr-2023 21:07	Nepa	Updated [[Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]]