Date:	Thursday 25 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF. IX
Owner/operator:	Air HQ Austria CF RAF
Registration:	LZ841
MSN:	CBAF.5055
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Kranebitten Airport, Innsbruck -   Austria
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Klagenfurt, Austria
Destination airport:	Kranebitten Airport, Innsbruck
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
LZ841: Spitfire LF. IX, MSN CBAF 5055. Built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M63 engine. To 12MU 15-4-43. To 47MU RAF Sealand, Flintshire 4-5-43 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. Shipped on the SS 'Fort Steele' 16-5-43, arriving Casablanca, Morocco 30-5-43. To 154 Squadron, RAF Hal Far, Malta 1-7-43. To Middle East Air Command 1-8-43. To 218 Group, North Africa 30-11-43. To MAAF (Mediterranean Allied Air Force) 21-6-45. To Air Headquarters Austria Communication Flight 5-10-45 at Klagenfurt, Austria

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 25-4-46 when undercarriage collapsed on landing at Kranebitten Airport, Innsbruck, Austria. Accident attributed to a mixture of pilot error and an airframe "issue". The Undercarriage indicator lights were not working properly, so the pilot was not able to be certain if the undercarriage was "down and locked" or not. However, the pilot compounded the problem by not making a manual check to make sure that the undercarriage was full lowered and locked. As a result, the undercarriage collapsed immediately upon touchdown at Innsbruck. No reported injuries to the pilot.

Damaged assessed as Cat E 25-4-46; Struck Off Charge 9-5-46

Air Headquarters Austria Communication Flight RAF was formed 5-10-45 at Klagenfurt, Austria. On 15-8-46, it was renamed Became Austria Commission Flight

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.39. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.132
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft LA100-LZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1985)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p056.html
5. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/LZ841
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/84087-lz841
7. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.98: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Royal_Air_Force_Communication_units
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._154_Squadron_RAF
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innsbruck_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Jul-2023 00:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
03-Jul-2023 16:48	Nepa	Updated