Many hundreds of fatal accidents and incidents involving military aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force have occurred since 1945, the great majority of them before the end of the Cold War. They are grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. Combat losses and aircraft operated by experimental establishments not on RAF strength are not included. This is a very far from complete list: for example a total of 890 Gloster Meteors were lost in RAF service (145 of these crashes occurring in 1953 alone), resulting in the deaths of some 450 pilots.