Date:	Saturday 18 September 1954
Time:	14:00 Hrs
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	610 (County of Chester) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH302
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hooton Park, Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hooton Park, Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH302: Delivered 12/12/51. Sole RAF service was with 610 (County of Chester) Sqn RAF

Written off (destroyed) 18/9/54: Dived into ground during aerobatics at Battle of Britain Display. Flight of 6-8 aircraft in line astern at 500 feet on display line, A/C No 4, dived vertically into the ground at the far side of the field. Pilot killed. Pilot was Flight Lieutenant, Richard James ('Little Robbie') Robinson (R.Aux AF).

According to an eyewitness report:

"The crash was in 1954 and I witnessed it. My father, Squadron leader A. Brown (deceased), used to fly into Hooton park regularly in a Chipmunk so was familiar with the airfield (he flew Sunderland flying-boats during the war). He took us to see the air display on that fateful day; I was twelve at the time.

As I recall, the aircraft involved peeled-out of a low-level, follow-my-leader display, went upwards for some distance and then came back down almost vertically, impacting on the opposite side of the runway (the river side) to the watching crowds. The fire-ball was huge so I guess the aircraft was carrying a fair amount of fuel. My father visited the crash site and later told me that the crater was big enough to swallow a small house.

Rumour has it that the pilot was in contact with the control tower and refused to bail out as the aircraft was almost uncontrollable and he (the pilot) was concerned that the aircraft might veer-off into the crowd – perhaps he flew it into the safest area he could manage – away from the crowd and also avoiding the many fuel and chemical storage tanks to be found in the area at that time – it would be interesting to read the accident investigation report.

Jimmy Edwards of BBC Radio “Take it from here” fame was doing the commentary at the time and completely dried up. There was no further PA announcement and people slowly drifted away when it became obvious this was not some kind of stunt. I was 12 at the time so the memory is quite vivid."

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.163 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.49)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.90
4. The Gloster Meteor in British Service By Martin Derry
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
6. http://610squadron.com/aircraft-of-610-squadron-1936-1957/
7. https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/386724/re-hooton-park.html#Post386724
8. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/museums/main/hooton-park.htm
9. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/307076-airshow-related-accidents-4.html#post10476256

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jun-2008 15:17	JINX	Added
10-Jan-2012 15:25	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
19-Aug-2015 16:24	Anon.	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Narrative]
10-Mar-2019 19:30	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
22-Apr-2020 01:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]