Date:	Tuesday 31 May 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	SM287
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bristol Channel, off Ilfracombe, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon (EGDC)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
SM287: Spitfire LF XVI: Built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. Taken on charge at 9MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 30-10-44. To 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, RAF Coltishall, Norfolk 27-11-44. To 61 OTU 7-2-46. To 203 AFS RAF Keevil, Wiltshire 1-7-47

Written off (destroyed) when crashed into sea off Ilfracombe, Devon 31-5-49; pilot killed. The pilot lost control of the aircraft on a sortie from RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon. The aircraft entered a cu-Nim cloud during an aerobatic sortie, and then dived into the sea into the Bristol Channel before a recovery could be made.
Crew of Spitfire SM287:
P/O (3039106) Robert Felix READ (pilot) RAF - killed on active service 31-5-1949

Wreckage not found or recovered; Struck Off Charge 9-9-49 as FACE (Flying Accident Cat. E). The pilot was a graduate of the RAF College, Cranwell, having only recently (on 8-4-1949) been awarded the rank of Pilot Officer.

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.504
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p110.html
5. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TD321
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90847-td321
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Chivenor#1946%E2%80%941949
8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38605/supplement/2285/data.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfracombe
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Channel

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Mar-2023 16:43	Dr. John Smith	Added