Date:	Tuesday 7 April 1953
Time:	night
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	231 OCU RAF
Registration:	WG972
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Field Barn, Orwell 2 mi NNE of RAF Bassingbourn Cambridgeshire England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WG972, 231 OCU RAF Bassingbourn: delivered 10/12/1951. Written off (destroyed) 7/4/1953 when control lost on night overshoot with airbrakes extended, aircraft crashed at Field Barn, Orwell, 2 miles North North-East of RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire.

The pilot was undertaking his first night solo sortie on the Gloster Meteor, and while on final approach, decided to initate an overshoot. During the overshoot, the pilot stated that he had lost control of his aircraft. He repeated this message to ATC (Air Traffic Control) a few seconds later, just before the aircraft crashed.
Crew of Meteor WG972:
Flying Officer (1892404) John Patrick DONOVAN (pilot) RAF - killed in service 7/4/1953.

The subsequent board of inquiry attributed the cause of the accident to loss of control, due to the pilot attempting to overshoot with the airbrakes extended, which caused the aircraft's airspeed to fall below critical stalling speed.

According to a contemporary local newspaper (Cambridge Evening News 8 April 1953):

"After an all-night search a Meteor jet fighter from R.A.F. station, Bassingbourn, was found near Field Barn, Orwell. The pilot’s body was found in the wreckage. At midnight last night the BBC broadcast an appeal for the plane when it was reported missing on a routine flight.

Police were asked to look out for the aircraft which was eventually found by an R.A.F. search plane. Mrs D.F. Hallett of Orwell said she was watching her television set when the house was shaken, but she did not hear what had happened until morning. Elsewhere in Orwell nothing was heard".

Orwell is a small, rural village outside Cambridge in South Cambridgeshire, England. The Prime Meridian passes the eastern edge of Orwell.

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 359
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. Cambridge Evening News 8 April 1953
5. https://archive.org/stream/CambridgeshireAviationScrapbook1897To1990.doc/Cambridgeshire%20Aviation%20Scrapbook%201897%20to%201990.doc_djvu.txt
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell,_Cambridgeshire
7. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/BassingbourncumKneesworthPostWar.html
8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39169/supplement/1293/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Jun-2008 11:33	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 13:02	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Location]
12-May-2015 16:29	Jixon	Updated [Operator]
17-Apr-2021 18:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Apr-2021 18:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
17-Apr-2021 18:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
21-Apr-2021 21:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
21-Apr-2021 21:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
22-Apr-2021 20:35	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total occupants, Narrative, Operator]
18-Aug-2021 15:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Category]
16-Jul-2023 21:24	Nepa	Updated [[Category]]