Date:	Friday 17 April 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	209 AFS RAF
Registration:	WG988
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	One mile West of RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7, WG988, 209 AFS (Advanced Flying School) RAF: Delivered 30/11/1951. Written off 17/4/1953 when crashed on take off from RAF Weston Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset.

The aircraft took off from RAF Weston Zoyland, with the pupil pilot under instruction having being breifed to take off on IFR conditions - that is, using his instruments only to take off and make thre initial climb. However, during the take off run, the Meteor lost engine power, and the QFI Instructor Pilot took charge of the aircraft. The Instructor attempted to abandon the take off, but the aircraft was too far down the runway to stop before it "ran out of runway".

As a result, the Meteor overshot the end of the runway, ran through the boundary fence, then crossed a ditch and along a field before coming to a halt against an emabnkment. The wrecked airframe was taken to 49 MU RAF Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire, where it was Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(c) on 30/4/1953

Some published sources (e.g. link #4) state that WG988 was sold to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and became "I-304". However, that aircraft was delivered on 12/2/1953 (two months BEFORE the above incident), and was actually ex-RAF WG998 (nine-nine-eight not nine-eight-eight)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4. p 144)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.361
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. 209 AFS ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/7/1952 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2148/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162862
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WG

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Jun-2008 16:57	JINX	Added
14-Jun-2013 17:57	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
23-Mar-2020 21:42	DB	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Operator]
25-Apr-2021 18:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]