Date:	Thursday 3 March 1955
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	34 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE963
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles west of Paines Wood, Arundel, Sussex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Tangmere, Chichester, West Sussex
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WE963: Delivered to the RAF 8/5/51. RAF career was with 19 Squadron, and 34 sqaudron, RAF Tangmere

On 3/3/55, Meteor F.8 WE963, which had just taken off from Tangmere, crashed 2 miles west of Paines Wood, Sussex killing the pilot, after a mid-air collision with DH Sea Vampire T.22 XG765, which had just taken off from RNAS Ford. An eyewitness, Mrs. Elizabeth Stapler, told the newspaper reporters ("Portsmouth Evening News" - Tuesday 8 March 1955):

"They looked so pretty. The sun was shining on them and I was just thinking how beautiful they looked when they came together. There was a bang and they started to fall together. One of them - the one which fell near here - burst into flames as it fell."

The circuits of RNAS Ford and RAF Tangmere were very close together; as a result of this accident, standing orders were given that no aircraft taking off from RAF Tangmere should turn to starboard (and therefore stray into the circuit of RNAS Ford) unless it was absolutely essential or in the case of an emergency.

Crew:
Flying Officer Timothy John HARTNOLL RAF (pilot, Service Number 607362) - killed in active service 3/3/55, Buried at St. Andrew's Church, Tangmere,

Paines Wood is a forested area off the A29 between Slindon and Arundel, West Sussex, at approximate co ordinates 50.8554"N 0.5930"W

1. Portsmouth Evening News - Tuesday 8 March 1955
2. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.168 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.36)
4. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.117
5. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10993.0
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
7. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1955.htm
8. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
9. https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/paines-wood-arun

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 22:38	JINX	Added
01-Mar-2013 16:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
18-Jul-2013 09:54	JINX	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source]
13-May-2015 08:21	Boile A.	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
07-May-2020 22:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-May-2020 23:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
08-May-2020 08:21	MIG29	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator]