Date:	Monday 6 May 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk VIII
Owner/operator:	1 SFTS RIAF
Registration:	MD347
MSN:	EA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Raja Bhoj Airport, Bairagarh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh -   India
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Raja Bhoj Airport, Bairagarh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, British India
Destination airport:	Raja Bhoj Airport, Bairagarh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, British India
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
MD347: Spitfire LF VIII, built by Vickers-Armstrong (Supermarine) at Eastleigh, Hampshire with Merlin M66 engine. To CRD MoS (Controller, Research & Development, Ministry of Supply) charge. To A&AEE Boscombe Down, Wiltshire 2-3-44. Returned to Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) 19-3-44. To A&AEE Boscombe Down 9-4-44 for further trials and test flying. To 222MU RAF North Luffenham 7-11-44 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. To 1PATP, and then shipped on the SS 'Ingleton' and 'LS.2488' 1-1-45, arriving India 4-2-45. to 1 SFTS, RIAF by 31-3-46.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 6-5-46 when tyre burst, and aircraft belly-landed in low cloud at Raja Bhoj Airport, Bairagarh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The aircraft touched down heavily on the runway at Bhopal, causing the tyre to burst. The pilot then took immediate overshoot action, flew another circuit, before making a wheels-up landing at Bhopal.

Crew of Spitfire MD347
Pilot Officer (IND/3208) Walter Harold Walmsley RIAF (pilot) - survived uninjured.

Not repaired; Struck Off Charge 27-6-46 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.136
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.98: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=MD347
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MD347
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/89503-md347
8. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/MD347
9. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3208
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Bhoj_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Jun-2023 08:51	Nepa	Updated
16-Sep-2023 12:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated