Date:	Monday 3 October 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 21
Owner/operator:	HCCS RAF
Registration:	LA232
MSN:	SMAF4377
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:	RAF White Waltham, Berkshire

Narrative:
LA232: Spitfire F.21 (MSN SMAF4377). Built by Vickers Armstrongs Supermarine at South Marston with Griffon G61 engine. Test flown Flt Lt Johnson at Vickers Armstrongs South Marston 13-2-45 (possibly first flight?). Allotted to 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, and delivered ex-South Marston 6-3-45 for propellor trials followed by a new engine installation. Delivered to CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) by Squadron Leader Ellis (Castle Bromwich test pilot) 4-5-45 continuation of propeller trials. Fitted with G85 Rotol contra-rotating propellor in March 1945.

In May 1946 LA232 became the 'personal' aircraft Air Vice Marshall Thomas C. Traill coded 'TT'; he was posted as acting Officer Commanding of No. 12 Group of Fighter Command. A former WWI pilot, he was serving in HQ of No. 2 (Bomber) Group when the war broke out and spent the war in various HQ postings in UK and overseas. Later transferred to the HCCS (Home Command Communications Squadron)

Written off (damaged beyond repair) when landed one undercarriage leg up White Waltham 3-10-49; the starboard undercarriage door would not release, and the undercarriage leg would not lower. The pilot Group Captain Edward "Teddy" Mortlock Donaldson AFC, RAF therefore made a landing at White Waltham with one undercarriage leg 'up' (the starboard) and one undercarriage leg 'down' (the port leg).

Group Captain Donaldson survived this incident unharmed, having been selected to command the Air Speed Flight, established at the start of 1946. On 7 September 1946, less than a month before this incident, he established a new official world air speed record of 615.78 mph (991.00 km/h; 535.10 knots) in a Gloster Meteor F.4 over Littlehampton, Sussex. As a result, he was awarded a Bar to his Air Force Cross.

Donaldson retired as an air commodore in 1961, and became the Air Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, until 1979. He retired to his home in Selsey, and died at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar on 6 June 1992. Donaldson is buried at St Andrew's Church, Tangmere.

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.540
3. Flypast magazine April 2006 p.39: https://www.jets-are-for-kids.ch/pdf/supermarine_spitfire_personal-codes_FlyPast_04-2006.pdf
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p053.html
5. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/10609
6. https://www.raf-in-combat.com/downloads/may-2015-spitfire-f-21-23-photos/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Traill#Post-war_career
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Donaldson_(RAF_officer)#Later_RAF_career
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Waltham_Airfield#Operational_history

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