Date:	Monday 4 October 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	WH400
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Little Waltham, 4.5 miles north of Chelmsford, Essex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH400: Delivered 13/3/52. RAF Service was with 226 OCU only

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 4/10/54: Meteor WH400 collided with Meteor VZ522 and both aircraft were abandoned in flight 4.5 miles north of Chelmsford, Essex. Both pilots bailed out safely and were not injured. Meteor WH400 came down near Little Waltham, Essex

Crew of Meteor WH400:

Pilot Officer Desmond Patrick Joseph MELANIPHY RAF (pilot, Service Number 2574962) - bailed out OK

According to one source (see link #8) P/O Desmond Melaniphy not only survived this accident, but, according to his son "...He flew Meteors, Hunters, and Harriers and was also the commanding officer of RAF West Raynham", and died in 1998.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.164 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.50)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.94
4. The Gloster Meteor in British Service By Martin Derry
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?25318-226-OCU-Gloster-Meteor-Collision-04-10-54-WH400-and-VZ522
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Waltham
8. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/414446-good-old-days-3.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 08:26	JINX	Added
13-May-2015 07:45	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
15-Nov-2019 07:39	Nepa	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]
15-Nov-2019 07:57	Anon.	Updated [Nature, Narrative, Operator]
23-Apr-2020 23:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Apr-2020 09:11	Allach	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]