Date:	Tuesday 21 September 1954
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	9 FTS RAF
Registration:	WA247
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Somerset
Destination airport:	RAF Merryfield, Somerset
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 WA247: Delivered 23/10/50. RAF Service was with 60 Squadron, 208 AFS, and 9 FTS.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 21/9/54: The pilot - Pilot Officer S.A.Holmes (Service Number 2611441) - was undertaking his first-ever solo flight in a DH Vampire, and while overshooting a roller landing at RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset, the aircraft's tail boom struck the ground and the pilot lost control of the aircraft. The Vampire then ran off the runway and ran down the long slope towards Ashill Woods, being wrecked on impact.

Note that James J Halley's book "Broken Wings" (see link #1) claims that the Vampire then collided with a fuel installation and caught fire. However, some eyewitnesses dispute this, stating that all fuel installations were located well away from the runways.

As a result of this accident, it was decided that, thereafter, all first solo flights would be in two-seat Vampire T.11s, and not single seat Vampire FB.5s, on the grounds that the pilots had already spent weeks of training in a Vampire T.11, and were therefore more comfortable and confident in flying a "familiar" two seater, albeit with one seat unoccupied.

The pilot survived, but was injured. His commission as a Pilot Officer was relinquished with effect from 28/3/55, but it was due to his opting to join the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) and NOT as a result on this incident.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.163 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.8)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.91
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
7. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40516/supplement/3590/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Mar-2008 00:35	JINX	Added
08-Jun-2008 14:27	JINX	Updated
08-Jun-2008 14:28	JINX	Updated
18-May-2015 17:52	MiG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source]
22-Apr-2020 21:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
23-Apr-2020 09:33	MIG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Destination airport, Operator]