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Date: | Thursday 11 December 1952 |
Time: | night |
Type: | Gloster Meteor F Mk 8 |
Owner/operator: | 616 (South Yorkshire) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | WH455 |
MSN: | G5/415585 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Other fatalities: | 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | North Sea, 23 miles NNE of Whitby, North Yorkshire -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire |
Destination airport: | RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH455, 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, RAF: delivered 12/10/1951. Written off 11/12/1952 when collided with Meteor F.Mk.8 WH473 (also of 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, RAF), whilst carrying out a practice interception at night.
The two Meteors (WH455 and WH473) were engaged in practice interceptions at night on a sortie from RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire. Visual contact had been made by both aircraft at a range of approximately 1,200 yards. Both aircraft then collided and crashed into the North Sea, 23 miles North North-East of Whitby, North Yorkshire, and both pilots were killed. Despite extensive search-and-rescue efforts by the lifeboat crews from Whitby and Runswick Bay, nothing was found of the wreckage of both aircraft, and the bodies of both pilots were never recovered
Pilot of Meteor WH455:
Flight Lieutenant (144636) Barry Kneath, DFC, RAF (pilot, aged 31) - killed in service 11/12/1952, body not found/not recovered
Flight Lieutenant Kneath was awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) while serving with a Mosquito Squadron in the period leading up to D-Day (the invasion of Europe on June 6 1944).
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4. p 139)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.318
4. 616 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1949 to 31/3/1957: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2524/52 at
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8423172 5.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH 6.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38009/supplement/3128/data.pdf 7.
https://www.rauxaf.net/page151.html Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
12-Jun-2008 10:01 |
JINX |
Added |
17-Jan-2012 04:25 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
01-Apr-2021 20:05 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
02-Apr-2021 16:52 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
02-Apr-2021 17:09 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
02-Apr-2021 17:21 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
02-Apr-2021 17:29 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Narrative] |
19-Apr-2021 21:05 |
Dr.John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |