Date:	Friday 20 September 1957
Time:	11:30
Type:	de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T Mk 11
Owner/operator:	7 FTS RAF
Registration:	WZ496
MSN:	15055
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wem, Shropshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales (VLY/EGOV)
Destination airport:	RAF Shawbury, Shropshire (EGOS)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Vampire WZ496 of 7 FTS crashed 20.9.1957 at 11.30 hrs, near Wem, Shropshire. Flight Lieutenant M A Rufus Heald (instructor) and Lieutenant John L Williams RN (pupil), experienced an engine fire warning and took the appropriate emergency procedures. They were directed towards RAF Shawbury for an emergency landing, but in the poor visibility had difficulty in making a visual fix. As cloud cover prevented a visual forced landing from being made, the crew ejected.

Lt Williams ejected at 1,500 feet and Flt Lt Rufus Heald ejected at 600 feet; both survived unhurt. According to the eyewitness testimony from Flight Lieutenant John L Williams, when asked if he had ever had to eject from an aircraft:

"Yes, once, on 20 September 1957 from Vampire T.11 WZ496 en route to R.A.F. Valley from the Cheshire Plain after a low level map reading exercise with my instructor Flight Lieutenant Rufus Heald (see his book “Rufus Remembers” for his account, which fails to mention my name!)

On reaching our transit height of 10,500 feet we both saw the engine bay fire warning light come on. With the engine shut down it was impossible to reach R.A.F. Shawbury, the nearest suitable airfield, in the 160 knot glide and I was ordered to jettison the canopy, then eject at about 1,500 feet a.g.l. My Martin Baker seat worked perfectly and I landed, uninjured, in a stubble field near a farmhouse not far from Wem. Rufus Heald damaged an ankle on landing in a farmyard nearby and was grounded for a time. I was flying again four days later. When the aircraft crashed, there was no fire. I believe we were Nos. 57 and 58 on the Martin Baker “successful ejection” list."

The crash location of Wem is a small market town in Shropshire, England, 9 miles (14 km) north of Shrewsbury on the rail line between that town and Crewe in Cheshire.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.193 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 108)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.264
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/37/S2894: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578674
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1273-Post-war-crash-information
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
7. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194235/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1957.htm#sep
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH115%20prodn%20list.txt
9. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh115.pdf
10. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
11. https://www.mokokil.com/2020/05/29/the-flare-path-talks-to-a-test-pilot/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wem

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Mar-2013 10:49	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Mar-2013 10:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-Mar-2019 11:38	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Nature]
10-Jan-2020 18:57	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
11-Aug-2020 13:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]