On 19th April 1951 this aircraft ran out of fuel, the pilot attempted to force landed the aircraft near Hillilees Farm, Kirklevington but crashed while doing so. The pilot is not believed to have been injured and went on to gain his commission a couple of years later.
Pilot - Sgt John Quibell Picken RAF (5002410).
John Picken was later appointed to a commission in the reconstituted section of the RAFVR as P/O for five years on 18th January 1953.
He was promoted to F/O on 18th July 1954 and extended his period of service by a further five years on 18th January 1958. Nothing after this
date is known and it is assumed that he left the RAFVR after ten years of service.
Meteor VT103 was built to contract 6/ACFT/658 by Gloster Aircraft Ltd at Hucclecote and was initially delivered to the Holding Squadron
in January 1948 before being issued to 66 Squadron at Linton-on-Ouse in May 1948. It was transferred to 43 Squadron at Tangmere on 11th February 1949 and then moved to 1 Squadron also at Tangmere at later date. It finally transfered to 205 AFS when the unit formed
on 7th September 1950. Following this accident at Kirklevington it was initially declared Cat.B/FA but after assessment it
was Re.Cat.E/FA and struck off charge on 11th July 1951.