Date:	Monday 26 October 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH467
MSN:	G5/415596
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	14 Moore Road, Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Horsham St. Faith, Norwich, Norfolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH467, 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron, RAF: Delivered 19/10/1951. Written off (destroyed) 26/10/53 when crashed at Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk. The Meteor was one of three carrying out practice interceptions on a Boeing B-29 bomber. The aircraft flew through the attack, and then passed underneath the bomber. It then went into a wide spiral dive, striking the ground at a steep angle on a newly built housing estate at Whitton, Ipswich.

According to some sources the actual crash location was at 14 Moore Road in Whitton, Ipswich, Suffolk. Fortunately only two persons were injured on the ground. Also a German Shepherd dog belonging to a resident was killed.

The cause of the crash was that the hood had detached from the aircraft, and is presumed to have struck the pilot, incapacitating him. The pilot was killed

Pilot of Meteor WH467
Flight Lieutenant Gerald William Hill, DFC, RAF (pilot, Service Number 58136, aged 28) - killed in service 26/10/1953

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.151 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 422-423
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 51)
4. 263 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/4/1953 to 30/11/1953: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2671/12 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426892
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/183: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424304
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2664: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578510
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
8. Photo of Damage to houses (NOTE: Date wrongly given as 10 October 1953): https://www.alamy.com/oct-10-1953-more-than-thirty-houses-damaged-by-meteor-jet-crash-at-image69286137.html

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

19 April 1956

WH466

43 (China-British) Sqn RAF

0

RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 13:05	JINX	Added
30-May-2013 13:49	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase]
04-Jul-2013 14:29	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
22-Dec-2013 18:01	milburn-foster	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport]
03-Jan-2020 22:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
03-Jan-2020 22:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
20-May-2021 16:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative]
23-May-2021 00:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]