Date:	Thursday 25 January 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	205 AFS RAF
Registration:	VW255
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Croft-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Middleton St. George, Co. Durham
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VW255/"O", 205 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF: delivered 20/12/1948. Written off (destroyed) 25/01/1951: Took off from RAF Middleton St. George, near Darlington, County Durham, and began to climb through a low cloud base, but shortly afterwards, was seen to dive into the ground, out of control the vicinity of Croft-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, and explode on impact with the ground. The pilot was killed
Crew:
F/O (3504720) Arthur Adair McKERNAN (pilot) RAF - killed

Note that the Meteor came down on the outskirts of Croft-on-Tees village, and not as per several published sources, at the former RAF Croft nearby. Despite the name, RAF Croft (now a motor racing circuit) is actually at Dalton-on-Tees, approximately 1.5 miles to the south.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.111 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.109
4. 205 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2145/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162859
5. Meteor Boys: True Tales from the Operators of Britain's First Jet Fighter By Steve Bond p138 (Photo of VW255 in January 1951)
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VW
7. http://www.dtvmovements.co.uk/Info/History/Accidents.htm
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_accidents_and_incidents_involving_Royal_Air_Force_aircraft_from_1945#1950s
9. https://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/Losses/Losses-PostWWII.htm
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croft-on-Tees

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Jan-2021 20:39	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Jan-2021 20:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
09-Jan-2021 20:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
09-Jan-2021 20:46	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator]
12-Jan-2021 15:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]