Date:	Friday 4 September 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	66 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA778
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Butlins Holiday Camp, Filey, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WA778, 66 Squadron, RAF: Delivered 18/1/1951. Written off (destroyed) 4/9/1953 when broke up in flight at low level over Butlin's Holiday Camp, Filey, North Yorkshire.

The aircraft was flying fast and low over Butlin's Holiday Camp at Filey, North Yorkshire, when it broke up in flight while recovering from a dive. Wreckage was scattered over the Holiday Camp and in a wide surrounding area. The breakup sequence seems to have begun with the wings failing; firstly the port wing, outboard of the engine nacelle, followed by the starboard wing inboard of the engine nacelle. Pilot killed. According to an eyewitness report:

"I witnessed the incident from the moment the aircraft passed by the Filey Golf Club clubhouse about 500 feet, not travelling at a great rate of knots, in level flight save for climbing gently as it went south...only to explode in a orange black mass.There was neither sight nor sound of any other aircraft...so you can imagine my surprise that the Meteor broke apart as in a structural failure. The explosion was as if it had been hit by a SAM (Surface to Air Missile)!!"

Pilot of Meteor WA778:
Pilot Officer (3134158) Brian Watton, RAF (pilot, aged 23) - killed in service 4/9/1953

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 Colin Cummings p 409
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 12)
4. 66 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2627/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424987
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/172: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424293
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2653: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578499
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
8. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/266088-raf-meteor-8-flight-explosion-1956-a.html#post3151911
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butlin%27s_Filey
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21690-Brian-Watton-3134158-killed-4th-September-1953

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 13:01	JINX	Added
06-Jun-2008 22:14	JINX	Updated
12-May-2015 16:55	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
05-Jan-2020 00:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
05-Jan-2020 00:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
05-Jan-2020 00:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
05-Jan-2020 09:45	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
14-May-2021 14:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]