Date:	Friday 10 October 1952
Time:	night
Type:	Gloster Meteor NF Mk 11
Owner/operator:	CFE RAF
Registration:	WD648
MSN:	AWA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1.5 miles SW of RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Raynham, Norfolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor NF.11 WD648, CFE (Central Fighter Establishment), RAF West Raynham: delivered 10/12/1951. Written off 10/10/1952 when crashed one-and-a-half miles South West of RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, shortly after take off

The aircraft took off in good visibilty at night on a practice scramble intercept. Towards the end of the take off run, the windscreen misted over due to water blowing back off the radome, in the slipstream of the aircraft. The water had accumulated on the radome due to rain earlier in the day.

Since the pilot could not see out of the aircraft, due to the misted-over windscreen, he took off on IFR (Instrument Flying Rules) only. Once airborne, the pilot immediately started a climbing turn to starboard. At an altitude of 150 feet, and an airspeed of 160 knots, and while still in the turn to starboard, the aircraft began to lose altitude and then flew into the ground.

Both crew - both of whom were Royal Navy Lieutentants - were injured. The subsequent RAF Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the accident to the pilot, who, it concluded, failed to appreciate the handling characteristics of a heavily-laden Meteor Night Figher.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.135 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.300
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WD
5. https://www.pprune.org/search.php?searchid=11312382 .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jun-2008 01:39	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 09:05	Charlie Harper	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport]
25-Mar-2021 18:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Source]
25-Mar-2021 18:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
25-Mar-2021 18:35	Charlie Harper	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
25-Mar-2021 22:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]
25-Mar-2021 22:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
26-Mar-2021 10:19	Charlie Harper	Updated [Operator, Operator]
27-Mar-2021 16:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]