Gents
Many thanks for the replies. As this has generated a lot of interest, This question was the crash of Meteor III EE288 on 8 June 1945
A few more details from the same source:
We were practising dives with open airbrakes, starting from an echelon formation and peeling off one behind the other. F/Sgt Chase some how got into a spin and didn’t succeed in pulling out.
Meteors were not easy to get out of spins, in fact at the time we weren’t allowed to spin them or risk getting into a spin as we had no ejection seats and baling out without one was not possible on account of the high position of the tail unit.
Another pilot said at the time
…it appeared to carry out a climbing turn to the left – which may have been the beginning of a roll. The aircraft went straight into a spin, first to the right and then to the left in a 180 degree rotation as though the pilot was over correcting, this continued until the aircraft hit the ground vertically and burst into flames.
The F1180 recorded
Duty – Aerobatics not below 6,000 feet
A/C seen to stall and spin in from approx 4,500 feet
Aircraft out of control
Cause of crash aircraft stalling and flicking onto a spin. Contributory factors pilots inexperience and starting aerobatics below authorized height.