Date:	Tuesday 29 April 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	61 OTU RAF
Registration:	TE280
MSN:	CBAF 11406
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Destination airport:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Narrative:
Spitfire TE280: MSN CBAF 11406. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. Delivered to 6MU RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire 16-5-45. To 61 OTU RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire 14-1-46

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 29-4-47 when undercarriage jammed and aircraft belly-landed at RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. The Spitfire had already been involved in a heavy landing at RAF Keevil on an earlier sortie. However, as an inspection did not reveal any obvious damage, the aircraft was passed as 'fit to fly'.

On this sortie, when the pilot attempted to lower the undercarriage for landing, the control lever jammed, and the undercarriage would not lower and lock. Therefore, the pilot opted to make a wheels-up belly landing at RAF Keevil, causing severe damage to the underside of the aircraft.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry discovered that, after the earlier heavy landing, undercarriage retraction tests had not been carried out as part of the damage inspection. This error was corrected subsequently with a mandate that such tests should always be carried out after a heavy landing

Damage initially assessed as Cat. C (Repairable) 29-4-47. Not repaired, and struck off charge 29-5-47 as Cat. E(FA).

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.297
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. ORB 61 OTU RAF: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27
5. "RAF Write offs 1947": Air Britain Aeromilitaria No. 1978: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1978.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/production.html
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TE280
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90812-te280
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Keevil#Postwar_military_use

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2023 22:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-May-2023 08:24	Nepa	Updated
18-May-2023 14:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated
02-Sep-2023 03:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated