Date:	Thursday 23 August 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	63 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH374
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH374: Notified as awaiting collection 12/2/52, delivered to the RAF 21/2/1952. Sole operational service career was with 63 Squadron at RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. For a period in 1953, WH374 wore a distinctive black-and-yellow chequerboard pattern on the fin and rudder (see links #6 & #7). Later removed and replaced by single code letter "J"

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 23/8/56: Belly landed in error at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. Pilot forgot to lower undercarriage on approach. Burnt out (destroyed by fire) after the ventral tank exploded and leaking fuel caught fire.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.182 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 59)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.208
4. 63 Squadron ORB (Operational Records Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for period 1/1/56 to 31/5/38: File AIR 27/2791/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8430645
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. http://www.cbrnp.com/profiles/quarter3/meteors.htm
7. https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/23459/fsx-meteor-f8-wh374/
8. https://glostermeteorprofiles.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/gloster-meteor-f-8/
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 07:44	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 17:45	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport]
24-Jun-2020 22:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Jun-2020 22:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
24-Jun-2020 22:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]