Date:	Tuesday 3 July 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	65 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VZ569
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	north-east of RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Meteor VZ569: delivered 6/10/1950. Written off (destroyed) 3/07/1951, when collided with WA685, another Gloster Meteor F.8 of 65 Squadron in the vicinity of RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire.

Meteor VZ569 was part of a formation of 65 Squadron Meteors that were attacking another flight of Meteors, with the latter flight acting as "enemy aircraft". Meteor VZ569 was involved in a mid air collision with Meteor WA685, which struck VZ569 from below and behind. Meteor VZ569 immediately flicked over into an inverted spin, and the pilot (Sergeant William "Bill" Tolitt, aged 23) attempted to regain control without success.

With great difficulty, Sergeant Tolitt first released the canopy, and then ejected himself from the aircraft. However, as he was at 3,000 feet in altitude, and over 450 mph airspeed, without the protection of gloves or helmet, he quickly lapsed into semi consciousness. Eventually. he realised that he must release himself from the ejection seat, and open his parachute manually, but he had lost all feeling in his hands, and it took all his efforts to pull the rip cord of his parachute.

The parachute opened up between his legs, and, still attached to the ejector seat, he was tipped upside-down. His chest was badly crushed, as he was still trapped in his ejector seat by his harness. Sergeant Bill Tollitt landed in a field near Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, and sustained several injuries: a fractured skull, frostbite to this fingers, and swollen eye sockets.

Bill went on to fly for the R.C.A.F. in their F86 display team. I knew him when he was at Cambrian on Viscounts in the late sixties, but sadly, the Big C got him and he died at an early age. If my memory serves me correctly, his story was featured in a book called "Into the Silk" by Ian Mackersley

In the period from 3rd July 1951 – when Sergeant Bill Tollit abandoned a Meteor of No 65 Sqn to become the first RAF pilot to escape using an ejection seat – to the end of 1996, there have been more than 700 successful abandonments, including several made outside the design parameters of the seat.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.115 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.154
4. 65 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/51 to 31/12/55: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2626/3 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424986
5. RAF Historical Journal No.37, 2006 POST-WAR FLIGHT SAFETY by Wg Cdr Colin Cummings (pp.80-81): https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-37-Seminar-Flight%20Safety.pdf
6. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1950s-incident-logs#1951
7. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/300245-meteor-accidents-1953-a-4.html#post5468531

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Feb-2021 01:03	Dr. John Smith	Added
02-Feb-2021 11:41	Castle	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]