Date:	Wednesday 31 July 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX
Owner/operator:	225 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PL353
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Campoformido, Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia -   Italy
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Campoformido, Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Destination airport:

Narrative:
PL353: Spitfire LF. IX, built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M66 engine. To 39MU RAF Colerene, Chippenham, Wiltshire 28-7-44. To 82MU RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire 10-8-44 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. Shipped on the SS 'Melampus' 20-8-44, arriving Casablanca. Morocco 3-9-44. To 318 "City of Gdańsk" Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron (Polish: 318 Dywizjon Myśliwsko-Rozpoznawczy Gdański", Cassandro, Italy coded "LW-D". To 225 Squadron Campoformido, Udine, Italy coded "WU-N" by 1-7-46

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 31-7-46: port tyre burst on takeoff at Campoformido, Udine, Italy. Despite the efforts of the pilot to keep the aircraft on the runway, the Spitfire "ground looped", ran off the runway and the undercarriage was retracted to facilitate an emergency stop

Damage assessed as Cat. E 31-7-46. Not repaired, Struck Off Charge 31-10-46

Campoformido is a town and commune in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy,

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.193
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 225 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-7-1946 to 31-7-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/1398/37: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8395163
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.102: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p087.html
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/PL353
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80691-pl353
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PL353
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._318_Polish_Fighter-Reconnaissance_Squadron
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._225_Squadron_RAF
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campoformido

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Sep-2013 08:19	JINX	Added
27-Mar-2015 18:46	Jixon	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
13-Jun-2023 19:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator]]