Date:	Monday 12 May 1952
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire F Mk 1
Owner/operator:	208 AFS RAF
Registration:	VF309
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Yalam Farm, Culmhead, 10 miles SSW of Taunton, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Merryfield, Somerset
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.100 Vampire F.1 VF309, 208 AFS, RAF: Crashed and destroyed 12/5/52 when overstressed and wing broke off and aircraft crashed at Yalam Farm, Culmhead, 10 miles South South West of Taunton, Somerset. Pilot killed.

The pilot had been briefed not to enter cloud, but several minutes after take off the aircraft was seen at 1,000 feet and travelling at high speed. The port wing then failed , and the aircraft went into a spin and crashed.

It is probable that the pilot entered cloud inadvertently, and lost control, due to spatial disorientation. In emerging from could, he made sharp control movements in an effort to regain control, overstressing the airframe beyond its limits, and causing it to break apart in flight

Pilot of Vampire VF309:
Pilot Officer Peter Nott, RAF (pilot, aged 19) - killed on active service 12/5/52

Peter Nott (born 1933) was a keen air cadet, and after leaving school in the early 1950s, he joined the RAF as a pilot officer. He was flying in a vampire jet above Culmhead near Taunton when a wing broke off and the aircraft went into a spin and Peter died on impact. A subsequent inquiry found that there was a fault in the design of the aircraft. Peter Nott died on May 12th 1952 when he was aged 19 years. We have been told that his parents, Alan and Eleanor Nott spilt up following this tragedy and Alan moved away. Eleanor continued to live in the Court House. She died in 1964 aged 61 years and is buried in the same grave as her son Peter in Thornbury Cemetery. She died in Berkeley Hospital although her address at that time was 44 Streamleaze, Thornbury. Allan Nott died in 1969.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.129 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 246
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 62)
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. 208 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/11/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) flie AIR 29/2147 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101857
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/92: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424213
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2574: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578420
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VF
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-12749704
10. http://www.thornburyroots.co.uk/st-john-street/2-st-john-street-occupants/
11. http://www.thornburyroots2.co.uk/thornbury-cemetery/cemetery-names-n-o/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Mar-2013 19:14	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Dec-2018 20:09	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
31-Dec-2019 18:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
31-Dec-2019 18:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
31-Dec-2019 18:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
01-Jan-2020 08:59	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
09-Jan-2020 15:11	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
08-Mar-2021 22:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]