Date:	Thursday 26 June 1952
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	WE861
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near RAF Ridgewell, 7.5 miles NW of Halstead, Essex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WE861, 226 OCU: delivered 17/5/1951. Written off 26/6/1952 when crashed near RAF Ridgewell, 7.5 miles North West of Halstead, Essex. The pilot was involved in mock air-to-air combat with another Meteor of 226 OCU. The pilot was taking a cine-gun camera shot of the target aircraft. Meteor WE861 then overtook the target aircraft, and half rolled in front of it, before attempting a half loop. However Meteor WE861 struck the ground before completing the loop, and the pilot was killed.

Crew of Meteor WE861:
Pilot Officer Ian Clarke Currie, RAF (pilot) RAF - killed 26/6/1952

The reported crash location of Ridgewell is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England, about six miles from Haverhill on the main road between Haverhill and Braintree. RAF Ridgewell is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north west of Halstead, Essex, England.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.130 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 262
3. 226 OCU ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/5/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/2165/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162873
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WE
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgewell
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ridgewell#Air_Ministry_use

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2008 14:20	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 08:37	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
13-Mar-2021 16:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Mar-2021 18:38	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative, Operator]