Date:	Monday 28 August 1950
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	63 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VT198
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VT198, 63 Squadron, RAF: Delivered 2-7-1948. Written off (destroyed) 28-8-1950: The pilot was making an approach to RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire in adverse weather conditions (some sources state that the weather was thundery). Having already missed his first approach, due too being poorly positioned, the pilot attempted to make a second approach. On the turn to make the second approach, the pilot allowed the airspeed to decay, and the aircraft stalled and dived into the ground. The pilot was killed

Crew of Meteor VT198:
Flying Officer Robert Peter Benfield, RAF (pilot, Service Number 3011963, aged 24) - killed on active service 28-8-1950

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.105 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.78
4. http://www.bvror.uk/index.php/articles/post-ww2/77-flying-officer-robert-peter-benfield
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
6. 63 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for 1-10-1948 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (*PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2427/36 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8420251

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Dec-2020 17:26	Dr. John Smith	Added
29-Dec-2020 21:04	INV	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]