Date:	Friday 18 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	208 AFS RAF
Registration:	VZ312
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Long Forehead Field, Tintinhull, near Yeovil, Somerset, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset
Destination airport:	RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.Mk 5, VZ312, 208 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF Merryfield, Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset. Delivered 13/3/1950. Written off (destroyed) 18/9/1953: The aircraft apparently went into a spin at 8,000 feet 1.5 miles west of Ilchester. Although the aircraft stopped spinning at 800 feet, it continued to dive towards the ground, and crashed into Long Forehead Field, Tintinhull, Yeovil, Somerset. The pilot bailed out at 300 feet but was killed when his parachute failed to open.

There are credible eyewitness reports that the aircraft buried itself several feet into the ground, and the force of the impact of the pilot's body into the field left a visible imprint where it struck the soft earth.

Crew of Vampire VZ312:
Pilot Officer (2607893) William Brian PARRY (pilot, aged 23) RAF- killed in serviice 18/9/1953, buried at Ilton, Ilchester, Somerset. He ewas botrn in Coniston (then in Lancashire) on 13/10/1929.

The wreckage of Vampire VZ312 was recovered by (and to) No.49 MU RAF Colerne, Chippenhan, Wiltshire, where it was Struck Off Charge on 8/10/1953 as Cat.5(s), and authorised to be rediced to spares and scrap.

The reported crash location of Tintinhull is a village and civil parish near Yeovil, 2.5 miles (4 km) south west of Ilchester, in Somerset, England. The village is close to the A303, the Great South West Road.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.150 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 410
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1985, p.102)
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. Western Gazette 17 September 1953
6. 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
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ
8. http://www.friendsofsomersetarchives.org.uk/files/Snippets/Snippets%20Mar%202013.pdf
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinhull

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Sep-2014 17:37	Dr. John Smith	Added
03-Jun-2015 08:34	Yelush	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
09-Jan-2020 21:04	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Nature, Destination airport, Operator]
15-May-2021 23:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
16-May-2021 10:17	Yelush	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
16-May-2021 17:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
16-May-2021 17:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source]
16-May-2021 17:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
16-May-2021 17:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
16-May-2021 17:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]