Date:	Monday 14 December 1953
Time:	night
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF
Registration:	WL119
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor T.Mk.7 WL119, 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron, RAF: delivered 9 October 1953. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 14 December 1953 when overshot and crashed at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk

While the aircraft was attempting a night landing at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, the pilot allowed the aircraft to undershoot, and the Meteor ended up colliding with the runway approach lights. The pilot was uninjured.

Crew of Meteor WL119:
Group Captain Hughie Idwal Edwards, VC, RAF (pilot) - survived uninjured

The pilot of Meteor WL119, Hughie Idwal Edwards VC RAF, was the Station Commander of RAF Wattisham at the time of the accident.

Air Commodore Sir Hughie Idwal Edwards, VC, KCMG, CB, DSO, OBE, DFC (1 August 1914 – 5 August 1982) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force, Governor of Western Australia, and an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Serving as a bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Edwards was decorated with the Victoria Cross in 1941 for his efforts in leading a bombing raid against the port of Bremen, one of the most heavily defended towns in Germany. He became the most highly decorated Australian serviceman of the Second World War.

He was appointed station commander at Wattisham, Suffolk in 1953. He was promoted to group captain on 1 January 1954. Edwards was the Station Commander of the RAF base RAF Habbaniya in Iraq during the Suez Crisis of 1956, and also the critical time of the Iraqi Revolution of 14 July 1958. He returned to Britain on 21 October 1958 to command the Central Fighter Establishment, West Raynham, with the acting rank of air commodore.

Awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1959 New Year Honours, he was promoted to the substantive rank of air commodore on 1 July 1959, and appointed as an aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II in March 1960. His final appointment with the RAF was as Director of Establishments at the Air Ministry, London, from January 1962 until his retirement on 30 September 1963.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.153 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
3. Last Take off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950-53 by Colin Cummings p 436
4. 263 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/4/1953 to 30/11/1953: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2671/12 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8426892
5. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WL
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughie_Edwards#Later_career
7. http://www.wattisham.org.uk/wattisham_aviation_accidents.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Jun-2008 18:54	JINX	Added
30-May-2013 13:50	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport]
24-May-2021 22:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]