Date:	Monday 3 September 1956
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	5 FTS RAF
Registration:	VV460
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Farcet Fen, Huntingdonshire, 2 miles south of Peterborough -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.Mk.5 VV460: delivered 28/10/1948. RAF service career was with 3 Squadron, 202 AFS (Advanced Flying School), 210 AFS, 206 AFS and 5 FTS

Written off (destroyed) 3/9/56: Dived into the ground at Farcet Fen, Huntingdonshire, two miles south of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire after loss of control in a spin. After formation flying practice of about 30 minutes, the formation leader order a formation change to "loose line astern", and a few gentle turns were made, with the aircraft descending to an altitude of about 2,000 feet.

Vampire VV460 was seen to roll to port, and then the nose dropped, and the aircraft was seen to spin to port. The aircraft then entered a vertical drive; it briefly managed to pull out of this dive, before rolling sharply to starboard and spinning again.

The hood was jettisoned, and the pilot attempted to abandon the aircraft, but could not bail out in time to deploy his parachute. The most probable cause of the crash was anoxia (oxygen starvation) which slowed the pilot's reactions. The pilot was killed.

Crew of Vampire VV460:
Pilot Officer Richard Charles Joshua Cooper (pilot, aged 20)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.182 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 90)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.210
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/355: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424476
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/35/S2836: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578616
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV
7. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
8. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farcet

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Jan-2020 00:39	Dr. John Smith	Added
17-Jan-2020 14:35	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
09-Jul-2020 17:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative]
09-Jul-2020 18:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
12-Jul-2021 15:53	James Morgan	Updated [Narrative]