Date:	Friday 2 August 1957
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hunter F Mk 6
Owner/operator:	263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF
Registration:	XE586
MSN:	41H-679944
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Tuddenham Avenue, Ipswich, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
2nd August 1957: RAF Hunter F6 XE586 of 263 Squadron crashed onto Tuddenham Avenue, Ipswich, Suffolk after the pilot had failed to recover the aircraft from a spin. Pilot (Flying Officer C. G. Reith, Service Number 4082622) ejected safely. According to a newspaper report ("Ipswich Star" - 25 January 2010):

"Aircraft man's poignant crash memories
A retired aircraft engineer has recalled the day that one of his planes crashed into an Ipswich housing estate which miraculously resulted in nobody being injured.

Ray Crosbie, 74, was a senior engineer at RAF Wattisham back in August 1957 when he was called to Tuddenham Avenue where a Hawker Hunter jet had come down.

Mr Crosbie, of Leopold Road, was reminded of the incident when he read the Kindred Spirits column in our January 19 edition.

The story told how a group of children were minutes from death after playing yards from the site where the plane crashed.

Mr Crosbie said: “I read the article and it all came back to me - I thought 'that was my plane!'. I was at Wattisham when we received a May Day call from the pilot and then we heard it had crashed. I think the pilot had made a miscalculation and run out of fuel. He tried to crash land in Felixstowe but the wind blew the plane into Ipswich. He baled out and nobody on the ground was hurt. Which to be honest was an absolute miracle.”

Recalling the day, Mr Crosbie added: “Four of us went to Tuddenham Avenue and as soon as we got there we could see crowds of people. The plane had landed on a plot of open land and had disintegrated on impact. It had created a massive crater about 12 ft deep and 10ft by 20ft wide.”

Mr Crosbie's first job was to cordon off the site and then ensure that debris from the aircraft didn't explode or catch fire. He added: “The plane was armed up - meaning its guns were still full of bullets - so we had to keep people away - one spark could have started a massive fire. We set up a tent and guarded the site for four days until the wreckage was cleared. People in the street gave us sweets and lemonade. One of them was my girlfriend Mary, who would later become my wife. We've been married 50 years and this reminded me of our early days together.”

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.192 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 23)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.258
4. http://www.wattisham.org.uk/wattisham_aviation_accidents.htm
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194235/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1957.htm#aug
6. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
7. http://rafforum.activeboard.com/t12730724/hunter-crash-ipswich-1957/?page=1&sort=newestFirst
8. https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/aircraft-man-s-poignant-crash-memories-1-205924
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XE

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2009 11:55	ASN archive	Added
21-Mar-2012 08:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Aug-2012 01:21	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
30-May-2013 13:59	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative]
23-Jan-2020 22:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
08-Aug-2020 19:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]