Date:	Sunday 29 March 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	615 (County of Surrey) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WF760
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Oxted, Tandridge, Surrey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WF760, 615 (County of Surrey) Squadr0on, RAF: delivered 20/9/1951. Written off 29/3/1953 when crashed at Oxted, Surrey.

The Meteor took off from RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent as the number two aircraft in a two-aircraft formation. During the initial climb-out phase, both aircraft entered cloud, and lost visual reference with each other. The pilot of Meteor WF760 told his leader over the R/T that he had lost contact with him. The formation leader advised the pilot of Meteor WF760 to climb straight ahead, but received no reply.

Meteor WF760 was seen to dive out of cloud, fail to recover from the dive, and fly into the ground. The pilot was killed.

Crew of Meteor WF760:
Flying Officer (91384) John Elgin TOPPING, RAF (pilot, aged 22) - killed in service 29/3/1953

The reported crash location of Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is 9 miles (14 km) south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and 9 miles (14 km) north of East Grinstead in West Sussex.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.143 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 355
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR AIR 27/2687 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505325
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39929/supplement/4245/data.pdf
7. https://www.rauxaf.net/page157.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._615_Squadron_RAF#Post-war
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxted

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2008 01:45	JINX	Added
10-Jan-2012 15:54	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
16-Oct-2018 23:34	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
23-Jun-2019 06:23	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
21-Apr-2021 18:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]