Date:	Wednesday 16 January 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb
Owner/operator:	1687 (BDT) Flt RAF
Registration:	AD413
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Balkholme, 3 miles east of Howden, East Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
AD413: Spitfire Vb, built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin 45 engine. Delivered to the RAF at 37 MU 2-11-41. To HAL (Heston Aircraft Ltd) 9-11-41. To 130 (Punjab) Squadron RAF Portreath, Cornwall, coded "PJ-L" 1-7-42. Returned to HAL (Heston Aircraft Ltd) for special investigations 30-7-42. PPSM 12-1-43. To VASM (Vickers-Armstrongs South Marston) 27-3-43 for fuel system modifications and wing stiffening.

To 416 ("City of Oshawa" (Canadian)) Squadron, RAF Digby, Scopwick, Lincolnshire 2-9-43. Involved in a landing accident at RAF Digby, Scopwick, Lincolnshire 6-10-43: during ADDLs (Angled Dummy Deck Landings) at 16:15 hours, the aircraft was 'waved off', but the engine failed to 'pick up', and the aircraft landed heavily, causing the undercarriage to collapse. The pilot - Pilot Officer H V West, RCAF - was uninjured.

After repairs, to 186 Squadron, RAF Ayr, Scotland, 17-2-44. FAAC (Flying Accident Airframe Cat. C) 26-3-44; repaired on site. Withdrawn from service and stored when 186 Squadron renumbered 130 (Punjab) Squadron on 5-4-44. To 1687 (Bomber Defence Training) Flight 30-10-44 at RAF Cammeringham, Ingham, Lincolnshire. 1687 Flight moved to RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire on 4-12-44 and then to RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire from 2-4-45.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 16-1-46: It is believed that the compass and radio were both unserviceable and the pilot became lost in poor weather. The aircraft was seen to be making a wheels-down landing, in a field, near Balkholme, 3 miles east of Howden, East Yorkshire, but the undercarriage snagged some wires on the edge of the selected landing place. On touchdown, an undercarriage leg then struck a tree stump in the corner of the field and the aircraft crashed and disintegrated, fatally injuring the pilot.

Crew of Spitfire AD413:
Flying Officer (177913) John Harris (pilot) RAFVR - killed in service 11-1-1946, buried at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool.

Aircraft deemed "damaged beyond repair" and Struck Off Charge 23-1-46. The Spitfire is believed to have come down near Balkholme, a hamlet in the civil parish of Kilpin and the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Balkholme is to the south of the B1230 Howden to Gilberdyke road, and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-east of the parish village of Kilpin. The county town of Beverley is 17 miles (27 km) to the north-east, the town of Howden 2.5 miles (4 km) west, and the town centre of Goole approximately 4 miles (6 km) south-west.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.27 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.30
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft AA100-AZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 1687 Bomber Defence Training Flight ORB (Operations Record Book) for the period 1/12/1944 to 31/10/1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/882/4 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7162039?
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.94: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p020.html
7. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=AD413
8. https://www.bcar.org.uk/new1943-incident-logs
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2411711/JOHN%20HARRIS/
10. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/98522-1687-b-d-t-flight-raf-scampton
11. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/AD413
12. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/95930-ad413
13. https://rafscamptonheritagecentre.btck.co.uk/WORLDWAR2
14. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/110006/
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkholme
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Cammeringham

Supermarine Spitfire Mark VBs of No 130 (Punjab) Squadron RAF, lined up at Perranporth, Cornwall July 1942 (Spitfire AD413/PJ-L second from camera):

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-May-2021 18:08	Dr. John Smith	Added
31-May-2021 21:07	Emil	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative, Operator]
24-Jun-2021 20:28	Coufal	Updated [Operator, Operator]
25-Jul-2023 19:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Operator, Operator]]