RAF Gloster Meteor Crash, Great Totham, Essex.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 51° 47.083 E 000° 42.380
31U E 341793 N 5739583
A Commemorative Plaque on the Village Green remembering two airmen who died nearby in 1952.
Waymark Code: WMHKMW
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/20/2013
Views: 1
North Weald airfield, alongside the present M11 and some 40km away from Great Totham, has hosted aircrews from at least seven nations and of those based there 267 men, women, and civilians have lost their lives in both peace and wartime service. Besides the English airmen and women who have lost their lives there have been Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, Czechs, Norwegians and Poles.
Two of those who lost their lives were F/O Charles Muldownie and P/O Ian Carmichael who died on 17th October 1952 when two of the Gloster Meteor planes of No.72 squadron crashed near the village.
Great Totham is a village of two halves, the southern part and the northern part. Both have a village sign on the greens, but the sign in the northern part bears a simple plaque on the side facing the green, away from the main road, the B1022, which reads:
GREAT TOTHAM
PARISH COUNCIL
On 17th October 1952 two Gloster Meteor
of No 72 Squadron,Royal Air Force,
crashed nearby killing both pilots,
F/O Charles Muldownie from Rotherham and
P/O Ian Carmichael from Devon.
Two local people were injured and
many were affected by the accident.
Local people assisted at the time and
this Village Green became the base for
recovery operations by RAF personnel.
This plaque is in memory of the pilots
and for all those involved.
October 2002.
At North Weald Airfield there is a memorial, dedicated on Sunday, September 3, 2000, to all those who died whilst in service there. In this 'Debt of Honour no distinction has been drawn between death in the face of the enemy or in an accident on or around the airfield. All served . . . and all paid the supreme sacrifice.'
For further information on the North Weald Memorial and a full list of service personnel who died whilst operating from there see: North Weald Memorial
For a full list of the air collisions and incidents in the 1950s see: 1950s air collisions
I could find no other references to this incident.