Date:	Wednesday 25 February 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	WH311
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Tuddenham, 1.5 miles north of Higham, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH311, 226 OCU RAF Stradishall: Notfied as awating collection 12/12/1951. Delivered 28/12/1951. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 25/2/1953 when abandoned at low level. It is presumed that the pilot blacked out during a tailchase. Pilot ejected 1,000-2,000 feet. Killed when parachute deployed too late. Aircraft came down one and a half miles from Higham, near Tuddeham, Suffolk

According to an eyewitness (see link #8):

"I watched this Meteor crash from my garden, as a ten year old. It was flying towards Stradishall from the Mildenhall/ Tuddenham direction. It went straight up and over, and then straight into the ground at Higham about two hundred yards North of the A45 now called the A14. I don't remember seeing a parachute"

According to a contemporary local newspaper report (Yorkshire Evening Post, Wednesday 25 February 1953):

"Meteor crashes in field, pilot killed A Meteor fighter from Stradishall Aerodrome. Suffolk, crashed In field at Higham, near Bury St. Edmunds today. It dived Into the ground and disintegrated. The pilot was found dead about mile away, having apparently baled out."
Crew:
Pilot Officer (2526599) David John Pointer (pilot) RAF- Ejected at low level just before impact but died from his injuries. His body was found about one mile from the wreckage of his aircraft. This aircraft was flying at No.3 in a tailchase but pulled away from the section without making an RT call. The pilot ejected at a low height and his parachute deployed just before he hit the ground and he sustained fatal injuries. The Board of Enquiry believed that the pilot may have blacked out and that, on recovering at a low height, he ejected because he was too low to regain control.

The following is included in a Martin Baker summary of failed ejections:

"25.2.53 The pilot of Meteor WH311 ejected from his aircraft successfully, separated from it and pulled his ripcord, but struck the ground before his parachute was completely developed. The ejection height was not known, but it was believed to have been low. Mk.1 type seat used. Cause of failure: Lack of altitude with Mk.1 seat."

The reported crash location of Higham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in the east of England. Located midway between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket, Higham is split into three parts: Upper Green, Middle Green and Lower Green.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.135 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 306
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. Yorkshire Evening Post, Wednesday 25 February 1953
5. 226 OCU ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2165/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162873
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
7. http://web.archive.org/web/20171115111244/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/project/year_pages/1953.htm#feb
8. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/131847-gloster-meteor-f8-crash-25th-feb-1953-raf-stradishall-266-ocu-david-john-pointer
9. http://www.wattisham.org.uk/wattisham_aviation_accidents.htm
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higham,_West_Suffolk

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jun-2008 18:54	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 09:19	Charlie Harper	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
25-Oct-2017 23:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Apr-2021 20:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
14-Apr-2021 20:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
14-Apr-2021 22:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
15-Apr-2021 15:42	Don Diego	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, Operator]