Date:	Thursday 22 August 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk VIII
Owner/operator:	151 OTU RAF
Registration:	JF789
MSN:	EA.4592
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India -   Pakistan
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India
Destination airport:	RIAF Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India

Narrative:
JF789: Spitfire LF. VIII, MSN EA.4592. Built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Eastleigh, Hampshire with Merlin M66 engine. First Flown 23-7-43. To 38MU RAF Llandow, Glamorgan 25-7-43. To 222MU 3-8-43 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Fort Thompson' 14-8-43, arriving Casablanca. Morocco on 1-9-43. Transferred to India 1-1-44. Then issued to 152 Squadron, Manipur, India later in 1944. 152 Squadron was disbanded on 10-3-46 in Singapore where it had moved after the Japanese surrender. Next issued to 151OTU in April 1946 at RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 22-8-46 when caught fire on approach wheels up landing at RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India). During the approach to land, the aircraft caught fire in flight, caused by the leaking of fuel on the hot engine surfaces. An immediate 'wheels up' forced landing was made, and the fire was extinguished. The subsequent Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the fuel leak to faulty maintenance. However, the fire damage was considered extensive enough for the aircraft to be condemned as a write-off (Cat. E(FA)).

Crew of Spitfire JF789:
Pilot Officer (IND/3242) Appasaheb Bhagwant Patil - survived uninjured.

No. 151 (Fighter) Operational Training Unit RAF (151 OTU) was formed in July 1942 at RAF Risalpur as part of No. 227 Group to train pilots out of Indian flying training schools.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p,51 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.202
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 151 OTU RAF for the period 1-6-1942 to 31-1-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/703: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161072
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.103: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p046.html
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/88858-jf789
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=JF789703/1
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/JF789
10. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3242
11. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/JF789
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_Khan_International_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jun-2023 01:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Jun-2023 07:29	Nepa	Updated
14-Sep-2023 16:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated