Date:	Wednesday 11 January 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS)
Registration:	VZ451
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Warton airfield, Warton, near Preston, Lancashire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire (EGLF)
Destination airport:	Warton Airfield, Lancashire (WRT/EGNO)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Meteor WV451: Delivered 21/8/50. Issued 29/8/50 to 43 Squadron, RAF Tangmere, West Sussex, coded "SW-U" and later "U". Withdrawn from service from 43 Squadron 5/5/53 and sent to Gloster Aircraft at Hucclecote for refurbishment. Then issued to the ETPS (Empire Test Pilots School) at Farnborough

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 11/1/1956: the aircraft was being flown from Farnborough to Warton so that the pilot could undertake a liaison visit to the English Electric Company. VZ451 hit the lip of the runway after landing short at Warton, Lancashire ripping off both undercarriage legs. It was not repaired and was allocated for spares use at 60 MU. (Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(c) 31/1/56). The pilot was uninjured.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.177 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 104)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.173
4. The Fighting Cocks: 43 (Fighter) Squadron By Jimmy Bedle
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
6. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Mar-2013 22:53	Dr. John Smith	Added
11-Mar-2013 22:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
26-Oct-2017 19:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
04-Dec-2018 09:03	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
21-Feb-2020 14:26	Iwosh	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Operator]
08-Jun-2020 22:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Jun-2022 12:02	Nepa	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]