Date:	Tuesday 26 February 1952
Time:
Type:	Gloster Meteor T Mk 7
Owner/operator:	207 AFS RAF
Registration:	WF831
MSN:	G5/1494
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Fang Foss, 3.5 miles NW of Pocklington, East Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Full Sutton, East Yorkshire (EGNU)
Destination airport:	RAF Full Sutton, East Yorkshire (EGNU)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The crash was on the 26th February, 1952: a Meteor T.7 WF831 from RAF Full Sutton undershot during an asymmetric approach, and collided with a goods train on the York to Beverley Line in the East Riding of Yorkshire, when it ran onto a railway track. The goods train was carrying cow hides, pig iron and sprats (a type of fish) at the time: fortunately the aircraft smashed into the wagon full of sprats, which was a 'squashy' cargo that somewhat cushioned the crash impact, and both crew members escaped wihth only minor injuries.

According to an eyewitness report from William Woollard (later to find fame as the presenter of BBC TVs "Tomorrow's World"):

"At No 207 Advanced Flying School at Full Sutton near York, he recounts, 'We were joined on our course by someone who had lost control during a single-engine landing. His instructor had partially recovered things, but they took a train off the railway line at the end of the runway. Fortunately the fuselage went between two trucks, but they were buried in fish'. That accident, involving Meteor T7 WF831, had taken place on 26 February 1952".

Sadly the instructor Flight Lieutenant Howell William Thomas ENOCH DFC (age 30) died in another crash in the Wilberfoss area on the 16th April 1952 along with Pilot Officer David Arthur JOYCE (age 19) a Student Pilot, and both are buried at the church in Fangfoss.

The reported crash location of Fangfoss is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 11 miles (18 km) to the east of the city of York and 3.5 miles (6 km) north-west of the town of Pocklington

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.124 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.225
4. 207 AFS ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/12/1951 to 31/7/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 29/2146/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162861
5. "Aeroplane" Magazine October 2015 p,46
6. http://www.pocklingtonhistory.com/district/fullsutton/airfield/index.php
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WF
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangfoss
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York%E2%80%93Beverley_line#Operations_(1865%E2%80%931965)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2008 03:56	JINX	Added
09-May-2013 07:22	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
21-Nov-2013 16:08	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative]
16-Nov-2016 21:49	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total occupants, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
01-Nov-2018 08:33	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
27-Feb-2021 20:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
27-Feb-2021 20:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]