Date:	Friday 15 May 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	64 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WF821
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Cromer, Norfolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
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 T.Mk.7 WF821: Delivered 20/6/51. RAF Service was with 64 Squadron, RAF Duxford, only.

Written off (missing, presumed destroyed) 15/5/53 when Crashed/went missing in sea on instrument training flight. It is presumed that the Meteor T.Mk.7 ran out of fuel and crashed into the North Sea off Cromer, Norfolk. (Between Cromer and the Netherlands Coast). There are some reports that the aircraft may have sent out a distress call to ATC toward the end of its fuel endurance. Although the body of one of the crew members was later recovered when it was washed ashore on the coast of the Netherlands, no wreckage was recovered (nor the body of the other crew member). Therefore a definite cause of the accident was never determined

Crew of Meteor WF821
Squadron Leader Ian Desmond Bourne AFC, RAF (pilot, Service Number 108164, aged 29) - killed on active service 15/5/53, body later washed ashore on the coast of the Netherlands.
Flight Lieutenant Alastair MacDougall Dow, RAF (Service Number 152246, aged 29) - killed on active service 15/5/53

Squadron Leader Bourne had been awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) in the New Years' Honours list on 1/1/53. Alastair MacDougall Dow had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 11/3/52 (backdated to 3/11/49)

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.144 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 40)
3. Last Take off; A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.370
4. 64 Squadron ORB (Operations Records Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) For the period January 1 1951 to December 31 1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2626/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8424985
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39732/supplement/33/data.pdf
7. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39488/supplement/1393/data.pdf

I took this photo at Blåvand cemetery Friday 29. March 2024. Why is I.D. Bourne burried here, if his body was found in Holland ?

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2008 03:44	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 13:06	Charlie Harper	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
12-Apr-2020 02:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
25-Jan-2021 16:55	Bob C	Updated [Country]
26-Jan-2021 20:15	Bob C	Updated [Narrative]
27-Apr-2021 23:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Country, Source, Narrative]
27-Apr-2021 23:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
04-May-2021 21:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Apr-2024 10:17	Anon.	Updated [Photo]