Date:	Thursday 31 October 1946
Time:
Type:	Airspeed Oxford Mk 1
Owner/operator:	7 SFTS RAF
Registration:	LB475
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	West Rasen, near Market Rasen, West Lindsay, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Kirton in Lindsey

Narrative:
Airspeed Oxford LB475 (Service Flying Training School): Written off (destroyed) 31 October 1946 when crashed at West Rasen, near Market Rasen, West Lindsay, Lincolnshire: No.7 SFTS was at that time stationed at RAF Kirton in Lindsey.

The pilot had put the aircraft into a long glide, descending towards Barton-upon-Humber; however, when opening the throttles to being the climb away, both engines failed to increase power, and the aircraft stalled and dived into the ground, killing the pilot.

The pilot was:
BONFANTI Louis, Gaston, Auguste
Birth: 27/04/1921 in Bacos (Ramleh) (Egypt)
Entered on: 25/11/1942
Origin: Reserve
Death 31/10/1946
Grade: 1st Class Reserve
Classeship Appointment: Provisional Naval Aviation Schools Group
Function: Pilot student on board Airspeed Oxford 1 No. LB475
References: Death certificate drawn up by the French Consulate in Newcastle and transcribed in Paris on 21 February 1948. DEATH IN THE COMPLETION OF HIS DUTY"

His death was registered in Market Rasen a sub-district of Caistor, Lincolnshire. The informant of the death was E J K Hett the Deputy Coroner for Kirton in Lindsey district. He died of multiple lacerations and fractures sustained when the plane he was piloting crashed. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot, an officer of the French Armée de l'Air, was killed. He was buried in Kirton in Lindsey Cemetery and reinterred later - presumed in France.

As the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) have no record of the above pilot, it is presumed that his body was repatriated back to France for burial

The crash site of West Rasen is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A631 road, and approximately 3 miles (5 km) west from Market Rasen.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.7. ISBN 0-85130-290-4
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.239
3. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.103: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
4. The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 2001 p 167)
5. 7 SFTS RAF ORB for the period 1-12-1935 to 28-2-1948: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/567/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160844
6. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1945-1949-incident-logs.php#1946
7. http://memorial-aen.fr/detail.php?&id=1532
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as10-oxford-barton-upon-humber-1-killed
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kirton_in_Lindsey#RAF_Flying_Training_Command_use
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._7_Flying_Training_School_RAF#Second_formation
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Rasen

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
02-Jun-2017 23:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative]
30-Jul-2017 20:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Oct-2018 19:50	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
18-Nov-2019 01:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
18-Nov-2019 22:03	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
31-Aug-2020 06:57	Pat Horton	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
27-May-2023 20:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]]
29-May-2023 09:11	Nepa	Updated [[[Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]]]