Date:	Wednesday 27 June 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	56 (Punjab) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA953
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WA953, 56 (Punjab) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 27/6/51 when crashed on take off from RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. The aircraft took off and began a straight ahead climb. At about 100 feet the aircraft began to roll to starboard and flew into the ground before the roll was complete. The pilot had insufficient altitude to recover from the roll, and was killed

Crew of Meteor WA953:
Squadron Leader John Harold Wishaw Yeats, DFC RAF, aged 34 (Station Commander, RAF Waterbeach) - killed on active service 27/6/51

Meteor WA953 was only three months old when it crashed, having been delivered on 14/3/51. The inquest into the death of the pilot was reported in the local press ("Huntingdon Post" 30 June 1951):

"A squadron commander at RAF Waterbeach was killed when his Meteor jet aircraft got into a roll at between 60 and 70 feet and dived into the ground. It was 2-300 yards from the end of the runway and completely disintegrated, having exploded after the crash. The coroner remarked the accident was the unfortunate result of one of the risks which airmen took in the course of their duty"

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.116. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 151
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 56 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 27/2620/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424700
5. Huntingdon Post 30 June 1951/Cambridgeshire Aviation Scrapbook 1897 to 1990 by Mike Petty: www.mikevettv.ore.itk bit.ly/CambsColIection
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/60: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424181
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/31/S2536: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578382
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WA
9. Pilots gravestone: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97001900@N06/30982629117/in/dateposted-public/
10. https://aviationtrails.wordpress.com/2018/12/16/raf-waterbeach-a-period-of-change-part-3/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Waterbeach#Fighter_Command,_1950-1963

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2008 20:31	JINX	Added
12-Jun-2008 08:43	JINX	Updated
15-Jan-2012 14:42	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source]
27-Dec-2019 17:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Jan-2021 18:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
01-Feb-2021 03:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
05-Feb-2021 17:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]