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Date: | Friday 4 January 1957 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Gloster Meteor F Mk 8 |
Owner/operator: | 65 (East India) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | WK681 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | near Letheringham, 5 miles South of Framlingham, Suffolk. -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Training |
Departure airport: | RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire |
Destination airport: | RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 WK681: Notified as awaiting collection 21/5/1952, delivered 28/5/1952. Sole RAF operational career was with 65 Squadron coded "H". WK681 was part of the 65 Squadron aerobatic display team in 1953, and for this purpose, was painted with an all-red rudder and fin bullet.The team comprised four Meteor F.8s and was led by Flight Lieutenant J A Fryer, examples of which included WA981/G, WH459/Q, WK681/H and WK827/T.
Written off (destroyed) 4/1/1957: During a low level navigational exercise (at altitudes down to 500 feet) Meteor WK681, as the leader of a pair, struck a tree at about 70 feet agl (above ground level). The pilot regained partial control of the aircraft, and climbed to about 400 feet agl.
The pilot made a radio call to base, indicating that he intended to bale out, but the Meteor then entered a descending turn to starboard, and struck the ground before the pilot could abandon the aircraft. The Meteor crashed near Letheringham, 5 miles South of Framlingham, Suffolk. The pilot was killed
Crew of Meteor WK681:
Flying Officer Michael Knight MANTELL, RAF (pilot, Service Number 2612508, aged 22) - killed on active service 4/1/1957
The reported crash site of Letheringham is a sparsely populated civil parish in the East Suffolk district (formerly Deben Rural District and then Suffolk Coastal) in Suffolk, England, on the Deben River, four miles south of Framlingham, at approximate co ordinates 2.172247°N 1.324282°E.
Sources:
1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.184 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 69)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.228
4. The History of RAF Aerobatic Teams From 1920: Smoke On...Go! By David Watkins
5.
http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm 6.
http://www.coldwarshield.co.uk/downloads/volume_one/ColdWarShieldVolumeOnePage427.pdf 7.
http://simviation.com//lair/casualty1957.htm 8.
http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WK 9.
http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html 10.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letheringham 11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Framlingham#Post-war_use Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
18-Jun-2008 19:56 |
JINX |
Added |
27-May-2013 06:24 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
21-May-2014 15:17 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative] |
28-Jun-2014 01:45 |
angels one five |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature] |
10-May-2015 16:47 |
Angel Dick one |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
03-Jun-2015 16:48 |
Ing Edcker |
Updated [Operator] |
16-Jul-2020 21:49 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |