Date:	Friday 7 August 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	229 OCU RAF
Registration:	VV490
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bristol Channel, off the coast of Ilfracombe, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 VV490, 229 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), RAF: delivered 17/11/1948. Written off 7/8/1953 when crashed into the Bristol Channel, off the coast of Ilfracombe, Devon. The aircraft collided with another Vampre FB.Mk.5 of 229 OCU while attempting to join up with a formation of aircraft. The pilot baled out successfuly.

The wreckage of Vampire VV490 was apparently recovered, as it was Struck Off Charge on 11/8/1953 as Cat.5(s) at 49 MU RAF Colerne, Wiltshire, and authorised to be reduced to spares and scrap.

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 399
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. 229 OCU ORB (Operation Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2167 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101877
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfracombe

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-May-2021 15:51	Dr. John Smith	Added
07-May-2021 20:35	BlBe	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]