Date:	Friday 5 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	1 ARU RAF
Registration:	MV316
MSN:	6S 585050
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Moerbrugge, Arrondissement Brugge, Oostkamp, West Flanders -   Belgium
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RAF Koksijde (Coxyde), West Flanders, Belgium
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
MV316: Spitfire FR. XIV, MSN 6S 585505. Built by Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Eastleigh, Hampshire with Griffon G65 engine. To 9MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 24-3-45. To 268 Squadron, Twente 19-4-45. In April 1945 the squadron at that time under the command of Squadron Leader C.T. P Stephenson DFC, moved from Mill to Twente and commenced re-equipment with the Supermarine Spitfire FR. XIVe, a dedicated reconnaissance version of the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine variant of the Spitfire. To 16 Squadron, RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany 1-11-45. To 1ARU (Aircraft Reception Unit) for disposal 1-4-46 when 16 Squadron disbanded.

1 ARU (No 1 Aircraft Reception Unit) was formed at Handorf on 2-10-45 but was redesignated No 3 ARU on 28-11-45. It reformed on the same day when No 1 Aircraft Acceptance Unit was redesignated at Koksijde (Coxyde), West Flanders, Belgium and disbanded on being absorbed into No 2 ARU on 30-4-46.

Spitfire MV316 was written off (destroyed) 5-4-46 when pilot lost control of the aircraft in cloud and the aircraft flew into ground on air test at Moerbrugge, Arrondissement Brugge, Oostkamp, West Flanders, Belgium. Due to the fact that the Spitfire was being flown at low level, it struck the ground before the pilot could recover from the loss of control. Pilot killed on impact with the ground.

Crew of Spitfire MV316:
F/O (1978412) Keith Desmond "Sonny" Bodden (pilot) RAFVR - killed on active service 5-4-46, buried at Schoonselhof Cemetery, Antwerp, Belgium

Moerbrugge is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders, in the municipality of Oostkamp. Note that some published sources give the crash location as "Velkapel, BZG, West Germany". The origin of this is probably due to the National Probate Calendar recording that he died at "Velkapel, near Ghent, Belgium". (Velkapel was in Belgium, not West Germany).

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.37 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.118
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 16 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-2-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2399: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505037
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.97: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2254938/keith-desmond-bodden/
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12898949/keith-desmond-bodden
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p076.html
9. http://rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=4168
10. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/79912-mv316
11. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MV316
12. https://www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com/?p=346
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._16_Squadron_RAF#Cold_War_(1946%E2%80%931991)
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moerbrugge

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jul-2023 21:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Jul-2023 08:13	Nepa	Updated
16-Sep-2023 14:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated