Date:	Thursday 18 December 1952
Time:
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	247 (China British) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH424
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Alpheton, Babergh, 6 miles north of Sudbury, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Odiham, Hampshire
Destination airport:	RAF Odiham, Hampshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WH424: delivered 18/4/1952. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 18/12/1952: The aircraft was the number three of a three-aircraft formation, which collided with the number one aircraft (Meteor F.Mk.8 WH442, also of 247 Sqdn) at 28,000 feet over Alpheton, Suffolk. Meteor WH424 managed to remain airborne after the collision, and managed to make a safe landing back at base (RAF Odiham. Basingstoke, Hampshire)

Damage to the airframe was intially assessed as Cat.4(R) ("severely damaged but repairable") and the Meteor was sent to Gloster Aircraft Ltd., at Hucclecote for damage assesement and possible repairs. However, at Gloster Aircraft, the damage was deemed to be "beyond economic repair", and Meteor WH424 was Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(c) on 6/4/1954, and then authorised to be broken up for spares and scrap.

The reported location of the collision was 28,000 feet over Alpheton, a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located on the A134 road about six miles north of Sudbury.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings: Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents, Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.138 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 Colin Cummings p 321
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p. 50)
4. 247 Squadron ROB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2670/4 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426885
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194544/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1952.htm
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mid-air_collisions_and_incidents_in_the_United_Kingdom#1950s
7. http://www.wattisham.org.uk/wattisham_aviation_accidents.htm
8. http://www.foxearth.org.uk/1952-1953SuffolkFreePress.html
9. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 09:21	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 08:53	Xindel	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport]
05-Apr-2021 20:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
05-Apr-2021 20:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
07-Aug-2021 21:30	BlBE	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]