Date:	Monday 7 January 1952
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	72 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VZ179
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hatfield Broad Oak, Uttlesford, Essex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Weald, Essex
Destination airport:	RAF North Weald, Essex
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.Mk.5, VZ179, 72 Squadron, RAF: delivered 07/11/1949. Written off 7/1/1952, when crashed at Hatfield Broad Oak, Uttlesford, Essex. The aircraft was making a GCA (Ground Controlled Aproach) to RAF North Weald, Essex, when, without warning, it dived into the ground, and the pilot was killed.

Crew of Vampire VZ179:
Flight Sergeant (579934) Peter Atkinson (Pilot) RAF - killed

The RAF Board of Inquiry into the incident was inconclusive on the reasons as to why the aircraft dived into the ground without warning. The reported crash location of Hatfield Broad Oak (also known as Hatfield Regis) is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Bishop's Stortford, at approximate co ordinates 51.82712°N 0.24257°E

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.123 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 211
3. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VZ
4. 72 squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/3/1951 to 31/5/1954: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2628/41 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8439880
5. Swift to Battle: No 72 Fighter Squadron RAF in Action, 1947 to 1961 By Tom Docherty
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
7. http://www.nwamuseum.co.uk/index_htm_files/Winter%202014.pdf (letters, page 12)
8. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/48a.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Feb-2021 21:21	Dr. John Smith	Added
21-Feb-2021 21:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
22-Feb-2021 10:43	yarbi	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]