Date:	Thursday 30 August 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	VZ414
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VZ414, 226 OCU, RAF: Delivered 21.12.1949. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 30.08.1951 in a landing accident at RAF Stradishall, Suffolk. The aircraft landed well down the runway at RAF Stradishall, and at a high speed. The pilot raised the undercariage to facilitate an emergency stop. The aircraft skidded to a halt, but the underside was badly damaged. The weather and visibility conditions were poor, and the pilot had ignored instructions to overshoot, and not to attmept a landing downwind.

Damaged airframe Struck Off Charge 13.01.1955 upon transfer to the C(A) MoS (Controller (Aircraft) Ministry of Supply; taken to Flight Refuelling Ltd at Tarrant Rushton, Dorset, and refurbished as a Meteor U15 drone. Subsequent history for the 1955-1960 period appears to be as follows:

24.08.56 Shipped from UK on the s.s "Chandula"
23.10.56 Received Fairey Aviation Bankstown, Syndey, NSW
17.05.57 To St Marys
07.09.59 To Fairey Aviation for re-assembly
02.02.60 To Maintenance Squadron RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia for fitment of trials equipment
06.09.60 Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(Scrap). Converted to scrap at Woomera, South Australia. The photographs in link #8 and #9 suggests that VZ414 was for the second time in its career, damaged beyond repair in a landing accident caused by the undercarriage collpasing, probably at or near RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.117 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.173
4. 226 OCU ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2165/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162873
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ
7. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/tarmet.html
8. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Meteor-Woomera/Meteor_VZ414
9. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/Woomera%20Meteors.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Feb-2021 21:54	Dr. John Smith	Added
09-Feb-2021 08:33	Quenten74	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
09-Feb-2021 16:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]