Date:	Tuesday 21 July 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 4
Owner/operator:	215 AFS RAF
Registration:	VT138
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Arnagill Moor, west of Masham, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 VT138, 215 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF: delivered 7/5/1948. Initial service with 66 Squadron as "LZ-F", later "F". Then to 215 AFS, RAF Finningley. Written off 21/7/1953, when the pilot of this aircraft was nearing the end of a training flight, with the aircraft returning to land at Linton-on-Ouse airfield. The pilot contacted Linton-on-Ouse control but was refused a Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) landing by them as they were already directing another aircraft in to land.

The pilot of VT138 was given a course to steer and a height of 3,000 feet maintain because of high ground in the area he was to be directed over. A few minutes later, he again contacted Linton to say he was flying in cloud, and requested another GCA, again he was given a course to steer and a height to maintain. This was not acknowledged and the aircraft was seen to dive towards the ground west of Masham. The wreckage was found after a long search on Arnagill Moor with the body of the pilot found nearby. The remains of two fuel drop-tanks the aircraft was carrying were later found about a mile away from the main aircraft crash site and it was never understood why they were released. A large crater was created as a result of this accident although little remains at the site today as the hole appears to have been back-filled in a good clear-up operation carried by the RAF.

Crew:
Pilot Officer (2542237) Denis Arthur SHARP (pilot) RAF - killed

Denis Sharp was born on 29th March 1930 almost certainly in the Chester-le-Street area of Co.Durham. He was a national service pilot receiving his commission to the rank of Acting Pilot Officer on probation on 2/7/1952 and being confirmed in the rank of Pilot Officer on 6/5/1953.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 147 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 390
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 215 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/2/1952 to 30/6/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2143/3 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162857
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VT
6. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/vt138.html
7. https://iwmvolunteerlondon.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/meteors-from-no-66-squadron-raf-duxford-july-1949-from-britain-to-australia/
8. https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/arnagill-moor-harrogate

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-May-2021 20:46	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-May-2021 08:24	INV	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]