Date:	Tuesday 14 September 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire HF Mk IX
Owner/operator:	RAE Farnborough
Registration:	NH236
MSN:	CBAF IX.2198
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Knaphill, 3 miles NW of Woking, Surrey, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire (EGLF)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Spitfire NH236: MSN CBAF.IX.2198. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M70 engine. Delivered to RAF at 33 MU Lyneham 8-5-44. To 3501 SU 30-5-44. Returned to 33MU Lyneham 29-8-44. To RAE Farnborough 3-12-44 exhaustive propellor trials continued through 1946/47. To De Havilland Propellers, Hatfield, Merlin 61 engine installation 11-7-47. Returned to RAE Farnborough 10-10-47. Written off (destroyed) when crashed (FACE: Flying Accident Cat. E) 14-9-48. Pilot killed. Struck off charge at 49 MU RAF Colerne 27-10-48.

Took off from Farnborough, Hampshire on 14-9-48 on a test flight. Purpose of flight: Determining propeller performance at high Mach numbers. Pilot suffered a paradoxical reaction to hypoxia (oxygen starvation) during an out-of-trim high-speed dive. Aircraft was severely overstressed before impacting ground at Knaphill, three miles North West of Woking, Surrey. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Dundee Courier" - Wednesday 15 September 1948):

"SPITFIRE HIT BUNGALOW
The pilot of a Spitfire was killed when it crashed at Knaphill, near Woking, yesterday. The plane was on a test flight from Farnborough. The Spitfire crashed into the garden of a newly-built bungalow, the occupier of which escaped injury. A wing of the plane struck the roof. Although the plane did not catch fire it struck the side of the bungalow with such force that the bungalow wall was shattered."
Crew of Spitfire NH236
S/Ldr (72013) Richard Wright Whittome OBE DFC (pilot) RAF Aero Flight RAE Farnborough Test Pilot - killed in flying accident 14-9-48

Knaphill is a village in Surrey, England, between Woking to the east and Aldershot to the west; to the south and north on the A322 – its western border – are Brookwood, and Bisley. Some of the village is on a hill, hence its name.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 79 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946-1949 by Colin Cummings p 429
3. Dundee Courier - Wednesday 15 September 1948
4. "RAF Write offs 1948": Air Britain Aeromilitaria No.1 1979: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p078.html
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/NH236
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80567-nh236
8. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=186
9. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14843.0
10. https://www.society.caths.cam.ac.uk/Public_Magazines/1949r.pdf p 27
11. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14844.0
12. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/awards/details.php?qnum=72013&qname=WHITTOME
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knaphill

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Feb-2020 16:26	Dr. John Smith	Added