Date:	Thursday 11 March 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	56 (Punjab) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH478
MSN:	G5/415606
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 WH498: Delivered 15/11/51. RAF service was with 63 Squadron, and 56 Squadron.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 11/3/54: During the initial take off from RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, Meteor WH478 lost its nose wheel. On return to base at RAF Waterbeach, the pilot - Flying Officer Hugh Leslie Crawley DFC (Service Number 3511526, aged 24) - opted to make a wheels up belly landing. He survived the incident with no injuries, but Meteor WH478 was damaged beyond repair.

Meteor WH478 was struck off charge 15/3/54 as Cat.5(c) and was broken up for spares and scrap

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.155 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 51)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.42
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2008 13:23	JINX	Added
15-Jan-2012 15:08	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source]
06-Apr-2020 19:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Apr-2020 19:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn]