Date:	Thursday 8 January 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	TB526
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Florey Church, Withiel Florey, Brompton Regis, Somerset, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon
Destination airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon

Narrative:
TB526: Spitfire LF.XVI. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. Delivered to 6 MU RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire 9-2-45. To 61OTU, RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire 22-2-46. To 203AFS RAF Keevil, Wiltshire 1-7-47.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) due to engine failure, forced landed at Florey Church, Withiel Florey, Brompton Regis, Somerset and destroyed by fire 8-1-48. The pilot had carried out an air to ground firing sortie, and then followed it with aerobatic flying practice. During the aerobatic flying part of the sortie, the engine cut out due to a series of inverted flying manoeuvres. The engine failure made it necessary for the pilot to right the aircraft, and he then made a wheels-up landing in a field at Withiel Florey, Brompton Regis, Somerset.

However, the pilot overlooked locking the aircraft's canopy open before committing to the wheels-up forced landing, and became trapped in the cockpit when the canopy jammed shut. The Spitfire then burst into flames on touchdown, and the pilot only managed to extract himself from the aircraft with difficulty. Consequently, he sustained severe injures including multiple burn injuries

Brompton Regis (formerly known as Kingsbrompton) is a village and civil parish in the Somerset West and Taunton district of Somerset, England about 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Dulverton. It is situated on the River Pulham in the Brendon Hills within the Exmoor National Park. The parish includes the village of Withiel Florey, and the hamlets of Bury, Gupworthy and Hartford.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.360
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p108.html
5. "RAF Write offs 1948": Air Britain Aeromilitaria No.1 1979: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TB526
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._8_Flying_Training_School_RAF#History_of_203_AFS
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Chivenor#1946%E2%80%941949
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompton_Regis

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-May-2023 09:15	Nepa	Updated