Meteor crash 1946?

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Bit of a long shot, but the fantastic knowledge of Proon might be able to help.

I was talking to a WW2 veteren at the weekend, navigator on Wellingtons in the last couple of years of the war. He was based at Lichfield, but one day (1946, might have been '45?) was at Bruntingthorpe. He and some fellows were blasting off out of date very pistol cartridges when they heard a noise they'd never heard before. A Meteor taxied out of a hangar to the runway, and took off. None of them had vere seen anything like it before.

Two weeks later, the same pilot was displaying the aeroplane at a private garden party and crashed, fatally.

Not much to go on I realise, but anyone know who the pilot was and the occasion at which the Meteor crashed?

SSD

[vintage ATCO]

Not a lot to go on in Putnam's. Test pilot Llewellyn Moss was killed in a Meteor in 1946 but doesn't give the circumstances.

[spekesoftly]

I've just had a quick look at some of the Meteor accident statistics mentioned at the end of Nick Carter's book - 'Meteor Eject', and it lists about 24 fatals during 1945/46. Not much detail to go on, but some possibilities:-

18/05/45 EE238 Mk3 RAE "Crashed doing low level aerobatics"

02/01/46 EE335 Mk3 74Sqn "Hit ground during low level beat up"

08/03/46 EE344 Mk3 74Sqn "Crashed during unauthorised beat up"


During RAF service, a total of some 890 Meteors crashed, killing nearly 450 aircrew! :(

[Archimedes]

According to Bob Cossey's history of 74 Sqn, EE344 was lost during a practice low-level attack on a train, killing an Indian Air Force officer (suppose that should be Royal Indian Air Force, given the date! .

The other 74 Sqn loss (same source) was at Warmwell, and doesn't look as though it was in the circumstances outlined in SSD's post.

[Aerohack]

SSD:

F.3 EE291, operated by Power Jets Ltd, crashed on 21 July 1945 at Whetstone, Leicestershire while giving a private demonstration to Power Jets staff and directors. Power Jets test pilot P J Moffet was killed.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Thanks, guys. Aerohack's seemes the closest fit, and the name 'Moffet' rings a bell (he did tell me, but I can't remembrer for sure who the pilot was). I'll be meeting this guy again in a few weeks, and will confirm the pilot's name.

And 890 meteors crashed! Quite a record :( .

Cheers and thanks again.

SSD

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Just been reading Andrew Nahum's book about Whittle and the jet engine. Apparently Bruntingthorpe was used by Power Jets, and they had 2 Meteors, a Lancaster, and a Wellington based there, all for engine test purposes.

My contact remembers seeing the Wellington (with something underneath they didn't recognise - presumambly the test jet engine) take off from there just before the Meteor. Sounds like it was the Power Jets Meteor that crashed, but I'll confirm pilot's name when I next meet this guy.

EDIT:

Confirmed today it was Moffet who was killed, so it must have been the crash Aerohack referred to.

My contact also added that the Wellington only flew when there was low cloudbase, so it couldn't be observed from the ground.

Thanks guys!

SSD