Date:	Wednesday 19 April 1950
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	1 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VT146
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Destination airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VT146, 1 Squadron, RAF: delivered 29/4/1948. Written off 19/4/1950 when involved in a mid-air collision with Gloster Meteor VT243 (also of 1 Squadron) over RAF Tangmere. Meteor VT146 lost its entire tail section, and dived into the ground, killing the pilot. According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Bognor Regis Observer" - Saturday 29 April 1950):

"JET PILOT KILLED AT TANGMERE
Hit a Bad Air Pocket

A 28-year-old Littlehampton Flight Lieutenant, Peter Speller, of No. 1 Squadron, Tangmere, was killed on Wednesday of last week when his Meteor crashed tail-less to the ground after hitting a bad air pocket.

His commanding officer, Major Donovan Francis Smith, U.S. Air Forces, told a jury at the inquest at Chichester, on the following Friday: "The tail came off the plane, but what caused that is unknown. A Court of Inquiry is being held.""

The medical officer, F/O. J. Llewellyn Jones, said Speller died from multiple injuries and burns. He was identified by his identity card.

The jury returned a verdict of "Misadventure."

Major Smith said in evidence that Speller was one of four men carrying out formation aerobatics over the 'drome. After watching them for five or seven minutes he went to his office to telephone, and then heard them approaching at high speed. Looking from the window, he saw the formation led by Speller was already breaking up.

"I saw an aircraft without a tail falling to the ground," he added.

One of the formation, Flt. Lieut. Louis Charles Bazalgette, said that they dived towards the airfield before pulling up into a loop. It was very bumpy and there was one particularly bad bump which split the formation. Speller disappeared below him as he turned off to the left.

Another member of the formation., Pilot Harphan, who is the sick bay at Tangmere, said in a statement that was read that his windscreen was shattered and that he broke away and grounded".

Crew of Meteor VT146:
Flight Lieutenant Peter William Spellar RAF (pilot, Service Number 68159, aged 28) - killed on active service 19/4/1950. Buried at Tangmere Churchyard, Chichester, West Sussex

The other Meteor F.4 involved (VT243) managed to make a safe emergency landing at RAF Tangmere. It was repaired, and returned to service. (It was Struck Off Charge 28/3/1956 and transferred to the Ministry of Supply for conversion to a Meteor U.16 drone. As such, VT243 was expended on missile trials on 11/5/1960). The pilot of Meteor VT243 (Pilot III D. C. Harphan RAF) survived with injuries.

1. Bognor Regis Observer - Saturday 29 April 1950
2. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.101 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.49
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
6. 1 Squadron RAF ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1946 to 31/12/1950: File AIR/27/2388/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8418929
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13128.0
8. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/307076-airshow-related-accidents-2.html#post7307014

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Dec-2020 23:47	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Dec-2020 23:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
19-Dec-2020 16:52	Koumas	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
22-Dec-2020 19:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]