Date:	Monday 1 March 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	207 AFS RAF
Registration:	WF815
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Howden, 3 miles North of Goole, East Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Full Sutton, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WF815, 207 AFS, RAF: Delivered 10/5/51. RAF service was with the ITF (Instrument Training Flight) at RAF West Raynham, and 207 AFS (Advanced Flying School), RAF Full Sutton.

Written off (destroyed) 1/3/54: while demonstrating a slow roll, near Howden, East Yorkshire, the aircraft flicked to starboard, and the instructor took recovery action for an inverted spin. The aircraft recovered briefly before flicking to the left, from which it recovered again.

However, the Meteor then rolled violently into a tighter and faster spin, and the instructor - Flying Officer A.S. Henn (aged 20) - ordered that the aircraft be abandoned. However, the student pilot under instruction did not abandon the aircraft until it was at a very low altitude. It is believed that, in a moment of panic and confusion, he mistakenly released his parachute harness instead of the seat harness, and thereby attempted to bail out without a parachute, resulting in him falling out of the aircraft to his death.

Crew of Meteor T.7 WF815
Flying Officer A.S.Henn RAF (Instructor Pilot, aged 20) - bailed out safely, survived
Pilot Officer Leonard William George Wheeler RAF (Pupil Pilot under Instruction, aged 22) - bailed out at low level, as per the above, and was killed.

Howden is a small historic market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Goole, which lies across the River Ouse.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.156 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 40)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.36
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/202: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424323
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howden .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2008 03:42	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 17:27	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
07-Jan-2020 20:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Jan-2020 21:06	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator]
06-Apr-2020 17:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
07-Apr-2020 09:35	INV	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
07-Apr-2020 15:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source]