Date:	Friday 20 March 1953
Time:
Type:	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB Mk 1
Owner/operator:	5 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE277
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Emmericher Eyland, Kreis Kleve -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wunstorf, Germany (ETNW)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The aircraft was number two in a pair, and the pilot was in radio contact with his leader as they climbed past 38,000 feet to 40,000 feet. The leader could not see nor contact his number two (WE277) on reaching the top of his climb, and the aircraft was subsequently found to have dived into the ground. It is presumed that the pilot suffered from anoxia (oxygen starvation) and lost control when he passed out. Pilot F/O Alan Stuart Ryde (23).

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.142 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 352
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 32)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/143: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424264
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2623: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578469
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH112%20prodn%20list.txt
Borkener Zeitung 23 March 1953, p2

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Jun-2008 08:39	JINX	Added
04-Jun-2008 08:40	JINX	Updated
18-Jun-2008 00:54	JINX	Updated
28-May-2015 14:56	T.T.Taylor	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Embed code, Narrative, ]
06-Jan-2020 00:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
13-Feb-2020 19:08	TB	Updated [Location, ]
06-Aug-2025 16:06	TB	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, ]