Date:	Friday 2 October 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	19 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WE856
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Porthill, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WE856, 19 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 2/10/53, when the aircraft had been undertaking aerobatics over Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire for about ten minutes when it broke up in flight, and the wreckage dived into the ground at Porthill, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The pilot was killed

Pilot of Meteor WE856:
Pilot Officer Percival Richard Boulton, RAF (pilot, aged 24)

What made the incident particularly tragic is that the pilot was killed on his last day of national service - he was scheduled to be discharged from the RAF the very next day. He is buried in Stoke on Tern churchyard near to Market Drayton, Shropshire

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.151 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 417
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 35
4. 19 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1956: National Archivers (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2693/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8427223
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/181: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424302
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2662: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578508
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
8. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/58411-meteor-crash-mid-1950s
9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2009/01/13/history_qanda_feature.shtml

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 14:14	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 17:12	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
05-Jan-2020 00:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
05-Jan-2020 09:45	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
17-May-2021 14:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]