Date:	Wednesday 25 August 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Swift F Mk I
Owner/operator:	56 (Punjab) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WK213
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hempstead Wood, Thaxted, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Supermarine Swift F.Mk.1 WK213: Delivered 24/2/54. Sole RAF service (six months) was with 56 (Punjab) Squadron, RAF: Written off 25/08/1954: Nosewheel could not be lowered, aircraft abandoned and plane crashed at Hempstead Wood, Thaxted, Suffolk. Pilot (Flying Officer John Hobbs) ejected safely at 8,000 feet and 250 knots.

30/08/1954: Wreck scrapped by 71 Maintenance Unit, at RAF Bicester.

Note: The crash location is confusing and contradictory. Several sources give the crash location as "Hempstead Wood, Thaxted, Suffolk" as per the above. The official File at the National Archives, Kew (File BT233/230 - see link 4) gives the crash location as "near Newmarket, Cambs." [sic]. Whereas the Wikipedia entry (see link #9) gives Thaxted as "a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of northwest Essex, England. The town is 15 miles (24 km) north from the county town of Chelmsford". So, depending on who you believe, WK213 crashed in Suffolk, or Cambridgeshire, or Essex!

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.162 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 65)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.84
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/230: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424351
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WK
6. http://web.archive.org/web/20171123224900/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/swift/swift.htm
7. http://web.archive.org/web/20170624000012/http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com:80/Swift.html
8. http://www.ukserials.com/prodlists.php?type=1076
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaxted

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Jun-2008 21:19	JINX	Added
15-Jan-2012 15:12	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Source]
14-Apr-2013 00:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Jul-2014 10:21	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
03-Jun-2015 15:36	QQ3	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
08-Jan-2020 23:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Phase, Source, Narrative]
20-Apr-2020 00:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
21-Apr-2020 22:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]