Date:	Thursday 27 February 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	6 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	NH788
MSN:	6S 507152
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Dhanbad Airfield, Satyam Nagar, Dhanbad, Kurmidih, Jharkhand -   India
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Destination airport:	Dhanbad Airfield, Satyam Nagar, Dhanbad, Kurmidih, Jharkhand, India
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
NH788: Spitfire FR XIV, MSN 6S 507152. Built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Aldermaston with Griffon G65 engine. To 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 9-3-45. To 82MU RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire 15-7-45 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. Shipped on the ss 'City of Hong Kong' 26-8-45, arriving India 17-9-45. To ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia) 27-9-45. To 6 Squadron RIAF by 1-12-1945 at RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 27-2-47: Overshot and force landed into a ditch while lost on a cross country NAVEX at Dhanbad Airfield, Satyam Nagar, Dhanbad, Kurmidih, Jharkhand, India. While on a cross country navigation exercise (NAVEX), the pilot became lost, and therefore made a precautionary wheels-down landing on the disused runway at Dhanbad Airfield. However, the Spitfire landed "long" - over halfway along the length of the runway. As a result, the aircraft was unable to stop before it "ran out of runway", and therefore ran off the end of runway 07/25 into a ditch, which severely damaged the airframe

The subsequent Board of Inquiry criticized the pilot for his carelessness, but also admonished the ground crew at Dhanbad Airfield for not switching on the airfield's Homing beacon, which meant that the pilot was unable to get a "fix" on the airfield with his aircraft's Radio navigation aids

Crew of Spitfire NH788
Pilot Officer (IND/3242) Appasaheb Bhagwant Patil RIAF (Pilot) - survived with minor injuries

Damage assessed as Cat. E 27-2-47 and therefore Struck Off Charge 28-8-47

Note that some published sources mis-name the Airfield as "Chanbad" [sic] (believed to be either a transcription or handwriting error)

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.215
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 6 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-11-1945 to 30-4-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/96/15: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407238
5. "RAF Write-offs 1947": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1978 No.2: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1978.pdf
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/79999-nh788
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/NH788
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=NH788
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/NH788
10. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3242
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._6_Squadron_IAF#History
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranchi
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanbad_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Sep-2023 08:39	Nepa	Updated