1956 Hawker Hunter multiple aircraft accident
Royal Air Force Hawker Hunter F1 · On 8 February 1956 the Royal Air Force lost six Hawker Hunter jet fighters in a multiple aircraft accident
From RAF West Raynham to RAF Marham
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 5
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Hawker Hunter F1
- Aircraft type
- Hawker Hunter F1
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- WW635 WT692 WT629 WT639 WW633 WW603
- Operator
- Royal Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From RAF West RaynhamTo RAF Marham
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 8 February 1956 the Royal Air Force lost six Hawker Hunter jet fighters in a multiple aircraft accident. Eight aircraft from RAF West Raynham had been carrying out a 4x4 dogfight exercise at 45,000 ft. Upon completion of the exercise, the eight Hunters diverted to RAF Marham, but due to bad weather, six of the aircraft were lost, including one fatality.
Accident
The eight Hunter F1s from the Day Fighter Leader Squadron of the Central Fighter Establishment departed RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, England at 10:50 to carry out the exercise at 45,000 ft in the local area. Due to the expected bad weather later in the day the aircraft were scheduled to return to West Raynham overhead by 11:15. By 11:00 the weather at West Raynham had deteriorated with poor visibility and the aircraft were told to divert to nearby RAF Marham for a visual approach.
The visibility suddenly reduced but due to the close proximity of the aircraft to each other it was not possible to complete ground controlled approaches. In the following confusion and with only 10 minutes of fuel remaining, only two aircraft landed successfully.
Descended to 600 ft, but, unable to see the ground, he climbed away to 4,000 ft and ejected with the aircraft crashing into a field 2 mi northwest of Swaffham.
Descended to 600 ft, but, unable to see the ground, he climbed away. The pilot ejected when the engine flamed out. The aircraft crashed into a forest 2+1/2 mi southwest of Swaffham.
Descended to 500 ft, but, unable to see the ground, he climbed away. The pilot ejected when the engine flamed out. The aircraft crashed into a field 3+1/2 mi northwest of Swaffham.
Descended to 250 ft, but, unable to see the ground, he climbed away. The pilot ejected when fuel was exhausted. The aircraft crashed 3 mi south of Swaffham.
Crashed 4+1/2 mi northwest of Swaffham, pilot killed.
Belly-landed following engine flame-out just east of the airfield, pilot unhurt.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Board of Inquiry (BoI) reported that the primary cause of the accident was the sudden deterioration in the weather. The board also said it was an error of judgement to divert the aircraft to Marham on the assumption that they could do a visual landing.
The BoI stated that the decision to fly in the weather conditions was proper and reasonable, the pilots were all competent, the aircraft were serviceable and had adequate fuel and endurance for the planned mission.
The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Fighter Command decided that disciplinary action should be taken against officers in charge of flying operations at West Raynham. One officer was reproved and removed from his job and three other officers were reproved.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1956 Hawker Hunter multiple aircraft accident” (revision 1344272451, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1956 Hawker Hunter multiple aircraft accident
- Revision
- 1344272451 · 2026-03-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4568696
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1956 Hawker Hunter multiple aircraft accident" (page 24084182, revision 1344272451)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.