Date:	Wednesday 16 February 1955
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	5 FTS RAF
Registration:	VZ147
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Foxes Bridge Farm, Royston Lane, Comberton, Cambridgeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
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 Vampire FB.5 VZ147: Delivered 19/10/49. RAF career was with RAFFC (RAF Flying College) Manby, Lincolnshire, 203 AFS (Advanced Flying School), back to the RAFFC a second time, then to 5 FTS RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire

Written off (destroyed) 16/2/55: The aircraft took off from RAF Oakington and then flew straight into the ground, coming down in a field at Foxes Bridge Farm, Royston Lane, Comberton, Cambridgeshire, approximately four and a half miles south west of Oakington. The pilot was killed, but there was no explanation as to why the accident took place. However, the following local newspaper report ("Cambridge Daily News" - 18 February 1955 - see link #6) reported on the incident as follows:

"A Vampire jet aircraft on a training flight from Oakington crashed and exploded at Comberton, killing the pilot. Flaming twisted mangled parts of the plane carpeted a 500 yards radius, a bullock was badly injured and chickens were killed. A car was badly damaged.

Pieces of the plane wreckage went through the roof of the kitchen of Fox’s Bridge Farmhouse where the farmer’s wife was working. She described the noise as a ‘terrific tornado’ and flung herself down for safety. She tried to dial 999 but the telephone wires had been cut by the crashing aircraft"

Another published source (see link #7) covered the incident as follows:

"In early 1955, a period of bad weather probably contributed to a number of aircraft crashes - on 1 February for example, Vampire FB.5 (WA262) spun in close to Landbeach church and the pilot was killed, after bailing out too low. Only fifteen days later, another FB.5 (VZ147) crashed near Comberton while the aircraft was rejoining a formation, after a stream take-off, killing the pilot (P/O Swallow)".

Crew of Vampire VZ147: Pilot Officer Richard Rees Swallow RAF (Pilot, aged 20) - killed on active service 16/2/55

1. Cambridge Daily News - 18 January 1955
2. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.168 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.101)
4. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.114
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ
6. http://www.ldhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Oakington-Scrapbook-1897-to-1990.pdf
7. https://www.scribd.com/document/188146049/RAF-Oakington-Vol-1
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comberton
10. https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/foxes-bridge-farm/royston-lane/comberton/cambridge/cb23-7ee/29720910

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-May-2020 22:44	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-May-2020 05:59	MIG21	Updated [Operator, Operator]
06-May-2020 23:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]