Date:	Friday 27 February 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	257 (Burma) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH477
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Upthorpe, 2½ miles north-east of Shepherds Grove, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk (EGUW)
Destination airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk (EGUW)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8, WH477, 257 (Burma) Squadron, RAF: delivered 15/11/1951. Written off 27/02/1953, on the sixth cine gun attack on the towed banner target, the tail of Meteor WH477 collided with the target flag. This caused the aircraft to flick violently; it executed two full turns, steadied itself slightly, but then began a spin to starboard from which it did not recover.

At this point the pilot, Flying Officer (583435) S.A.E."Ted" Newton RAF abandoned the aircraft and ejected at 3,500 feet and 350 knots IAS. He parachuted safely to earth, and Meteor WH477 came down at Upthorpe, near Shepherd's Grove, Suffolk. He was, according to Martin-Baker's records, the 25th person to use a Martin-Baker ejector seat.

According to the following posting on the Martin-Baker website dated 10th December 2018 (see link #6):

"We received this lovely message from the grateful daughter of an ejectee, Ted Newton (Ejectee #25) and thought it was well worth a share! The message was sent after meeting us on our stand at Farnborough air show earlier this year.

“Thank you for your time today and for the opportunity to see my dad at the top of your Ejectee Wall of Fame. I believe I said his accident was in February 1952, but it was actually 27 February 1953. He was on 257 (Burma) Sqn, based at RAF Wattisham, and the Meteor was WH477.

I have attached a photo of his Meteor tail following the accident, and a photo of him alive and well a year later when he married his nurse, Barbara, my mum, and one of him taken just a couple of weeks ago, still alive and well at the age of 88, all thanks to the Martin-Baker Mk 1 Ejector Seat.

Just a small point – dad was a 23 year old Flying Officer at the time of his accident, not a Flight Lieutenant.

Thank you so much for the new tie which I will be able to give to dad on Saturday, he will be absolutely thrilled to know that he is featuring at the Farnborough International Airshow, and he will always be beyond grateful to Martin-Baker for saving his life – as are his four children, 9 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren!”

As noted by the above posting, the pilot not only survived this incident, but rose through the ranks to become a Wing Commander, finally retiring from the RAF at that rank, and the age of 50 (on grounds of ill health) on 17th October 1979 (see link #7)

The Meteor's final impact with the ground was near Upthorpe, a village in Suffolk, England, located around 2½ miles (4 km) north-east of Shepherd's Grove, and lies in the Mid Suffolk council district.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.141 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 306
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. 257 Dquadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Mininstry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/4/1952 to 31/12/1955: Natiomnal Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2671/4 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426890
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20171115111244/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/project/year_pages/1953.htm#feb
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
7. https://martin-baker.com/author/armstrongwhitworthaw-52/page/20/
8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48001/supplement/14245/data.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Shepherds_Grove

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 13:20	JINX	Added
24-Jan-2012 13:38	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Source, Narrative]
30-May-2013 13:27	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative]
25-Oct-2017 23:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Source, Narrative]
14-Apr-2021 23:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Apr-2021 21:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]