Southend RAF Meteor Air Crash,
September 1951
Monday 10th September 1951.
An RAF Gloster Meteor plane, belonging to 263 Squadron, broke up over Southend whilst heading to Southend Airport. Parts of the aircraft were scattered around the vicinity, with the fuselage landing on Hainault Drive and Beedell Avenue and further debris hitting Rasmuz Drive and Brightwell Avenue. The jet’s engine was recovered near Southend pier nearly 1.5 miles away.
The later inquiry stated that the plane had recently been grounded for repairs to stress damage. That week was a disastrous one for the RAF with five Gloster Meteors crashing in various parts of Britain, all due to stress damage.
There were four fatalities, the pilot, Lionel Millikin and three people who were in 88, Beedell Avenue: Mr S Smith & Mrs A M Gilbert and Mrs F Sydenham who survived initially but died later in hospital. Mr H Duck was injured but recovered.
Civil Defence Corps Rescue teams worked with the Fire Brigade to recover six other people from damaged houses in the area.
Sources:
(1) Civil Defence Volunteers Pocket Book, printed by the Middlesex Division, 1962.
(2) Aviation Safety Network web site https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/149009
(3) Southend timeline https://www.southendtimeline.co.uk/southend-timeline-1950-1959-history-of-southend-on-sea.html
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