On 15th October 1954 this aircraft was one of two 72 Squadron aircraft that had been flown on a practice interception exercise at high altitude. The two aircraft had been flown at 38,000 feet and had both descended in formation down to 800 feet in preparation to then land after an hour flying. The two Meteors crossed the airfield boundary at 800 feet then the pilot of this lead aircraft made a hand signal to the other pilot that he was going to break formation. This would have been done prior to then making an approach to land. This aircraft then broke formation by making a steep banked turn to port. The banked turn increased to eventually the aircraft become inverted, the nose of the aircraft then dropped and it went into an inverted dive. At 11.52hrs it crashed onto the airfield and disintergrated killing the pilot.

An investigation suspected that a problem with the flying controls was the cause of the crash. It was thought possible that bending or jamming of the aileron control rods had happened or the universal joint at the base of the control column had become jammed by a foreign object. A modification to fit a guard over the base of the control column had been worked on but had not yet been fitted to all Meteor aircraft, which had it been, may have prevented this accident.

Pilot - F/O John William Holland RAF (2528537), aged 21. Burial location unknown.