Date:	Wednesday 29 May 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Vickers Warwick ASR Mk VI
Owner/operator:	280 Sqn RAF
Registration:	HF985
MSN:	ME-N
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Thornaby, Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Thornaby, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Thornaby, North Yorkshire

Narrative:
Vickers Warwick HF985 (ME-N): Written off (damaged beyond repair) on 29 May 1946, this 280 Squadron aircraft made a landing on the shorter runway at RAF Thornaby, but the brakes failed to slow it down sufficiently. With the aircraft about to overshoot, the pilot raised the undercarriage, to stop the aircraft crashing down into a ravine beyond the overshoot area, but the aircraft came to rest badly damaged.
Crew:
F/Lt (143090) Arthur Leonard Alfred Robins (pilot) RAFVR
Other four crew names currently unknown. No fatalities or injuries reported. Arthur Robins received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 1st December 1942 and he rose to F/O on 1st June 1943 and F/Lt on 1st December 1944.

Warwick HF985 was built to contract ACFT/494 by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd at Weybridge, it was delivered to the RAF in mid-1944 but was not issued to a unit until November 1944 when it was taken on charge by 279 Squadron at Thornaby. On an unknown date the aircraft was transferred to 281 Squadron at Limavady, later moving with them to Ballykelly. It transferred to 280 Squadron at Langham in October 1945 moving with the unit to Thornaby in January 1946. The aircraft sustained damage serious damage in the accident at Thornaby detailed above and it was deemed beyond economical repair, Cat.E2/FA damage was recorded and it was written off.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.43 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft HA100-HZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.152
4. Dinghy Drop: 279 Squadron RAF 1941-1946 By Tom Docherty
5. Air NORTH Magazine Article Archive February 2006
6. 280 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book) (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for 1-31 May 1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1613/24 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8438049
7. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/yorksother/hf985.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Thornaby#Post_war
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._280_Squadron_RAF

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Nov-2019 23:02	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Nov-2019 23:04	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
21-Jul-2021 18:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
19-Jun-2023 18:21	Nepa	Updated [[Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]]
26-Jun-2023 01:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]]]