Date:	Tuesday 19 January 1954
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Meteor F Mk 8
Owner/operator:	226 OCU RAF
Registration:	WH288
MSN:	AWA.5049
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 8 miles SSE of Southwold, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Meteor WH288: Delivered 31/12/51. RAF Service was with 226 OCU, RAF Stradishall, Suffolk (only). Written off (destroyed) 19/1/54: Dived into the North Sea, 8 miles South-South-East of Southwold, Suffolk, out of cloud during air to ground gun firing practice.
Crew:
P/O Peter Handley French (pilot) RAF : killed

The wreckage of the aircraft, and the body of the pilot, were apparently never found nor recovered. Meteor WH288 was struck off charge 26/1/54 as Cat.5(m) - "m" for missing.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.154 ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 49)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.27
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jun-2008 14:52	JINX	Added
12-May-2015 16:57	BlB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
03-Apr-2020 23:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
04-Apr-2020 19:34	DG333	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]
13-Jun-2023 09:59	Nepa	Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator, Operator]]