Date:	Thursday 16 September 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	TE351
MSN:	CBAF.11465
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Westleigh, near Bideford, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Devon

Narrative:
TE351: Spitfire LF.XVI, MSN CBAF.11465. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. To 9MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 12-6-45. To 61 OTU, RAF Keevil, Wiltshire 12-1-46. To 203 AFS, RAF Stradishall, Haverhill, Suffolk 27-10-1947. Taxiing Accident Cat. 3 at RAF Chivenor 19-2-48. Repaired on site and returned 203AFS charge

Written off (destroyed) 16-9-48 when crashed at Westleigh, near Bideford, Devon. The Spitfire was engaged on an aerobatic training sortie from RAF Chivenor, and had been airborne for approximately 45 minutes when the engine cut out, possibly due to fuel flow supply problems, induced by the aircraft flying inverted.

The pilot opted to carry out an "engine out" forced landing into a field at Westleigh, Devon; however, the aircraft hit an earth embankment at the far end of the field chosen, and overturned on impact. The pilot sustained fatal impact injuries.

Crew of Spitfire TE351
Pilot IV (3033319) Roy HEWLETT (Pilot) RAF - killed. Probably killed on impact with the ground, although the official death certificate records that he died at Bideford Hospital (probably "dead on arrival").

Several civilians when rushed to the crash site and helped to extract the pilot were recommended for a King's Commendation for Brave Conduct. (Leaking fuel for the crashed Spitfire was in imminent danger of igniting).

Spitfire TE351 had an interesting "after life"; the wreckage was recovered, and given a 'cosmetic' repair. As such, it was painted up as "VT151" and as "QV-S" of 19 Squadron; it appeared in the 1956 film "Reach for the Sky" (the biography of Douglas Bader). In reality the serial VT151 was allocated to a Gloster Meteor F.4. Spitfire TE351 (as VT151/"QV-S") was scrapped at Pinewood Film Studios in 1957 (see link #7)

NOTE: To confuse matters still further there has been a static full scale replica Spitfire (BAPC.635), marked as "TE351/EG-M" at RAAF Willamstown, NSW since at least 1988. This has no connection with the "original" TE351, which, as noted above, was scrapped in 1957.

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.429
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p112.html
5. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TE351
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90862-te351
7. https://www.kenleyrevival.org/content/catalogue_item/reach-for-the-sky-spitfires-te351-vt151-and-tb885
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/archive/17376.php
9. https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/roy-hewlett-24-190f8ql
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._8_Flying_Training_School_RAF#History_of_203_AFS
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reach_for_the_Sky#Aircraft
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westleigh,_North_Devon

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Apr-2023 16:12	Dr. John Smith	Added