Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	9 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	NH865
MSN:	KEA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	12 miles west of Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India -   Pakistan
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
NH865: Spitfire FR XIV, built by Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire with Griffon G65 engine. To 33MU RAF Lyneham 18-4-45. To 215MU RAF Locharbriggs, Dumfries 2-5-45 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the ss 'Empire Dynasty' and the 'LS.2897' 16-5-45, arriving India 7-6-45. To ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia) 28-6-45. To 9 Squadron RIAF by 1-7-45 at RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India)

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 28-5-46: Engine cut and the aircraft wrecked in a forced landing 12 miles west of Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan after the October 1947 partition of India). Both the left-hand camshaft and magnetos failed in the Spitfire's Griffon engine failed, causing the engine to stop while the Spitfire was at 200 feet agl (above ground level). The pilot attempted a forced landing at Hangu, but the aircraft landed heavily, and the pilot was seriously injured

Crew of Spitfire NH865:
Flying Officer (IND/2855) Jeffrey Ronald Bearcroft (pilot) RIAF- sustained serious injuries

The pilot was born on 20-10-1923, commissioned on 31-1-1944, and was released from service when he relinquished his commission on 10-2-1947. He was killed in a civilian flying accident on 25-11-1950 at 27 years of age. According to the following brief biography of the pilot, written by his son:

"He was killed in an aircraft accident (when flying for Indamar commercial air-freight) in November 1950. On the death recently of my mother, we discovered pictures & logbooks from his Air Force days, but we cannot find his actual squadron or anything about his time in the Air Force. My father's nick name was 'Ginger Bearcroft'.

Pilot’s Log Book - Airways India & Indian Overseas Airways. An unusual manuscript flight-ledger for Flying Officer Jeffrey Ronald Bearcroft ex-RAF 1944-46, comprising Civilian Pilot record 1946-1950, giving full details of military record of types flown including Tiger-Moth, Harvard, Hurricane & Spitfires VIII & XIV, and hours served, and assessment as “Above Average” and principally logging the complete flight-record for his activities with the Indian Airways giving aircraft-types flown including Cessna Crane, DH82, Dakota, L-5, Dove, Liberator etc., during which time after initial training he was upgraded from trainee to Co-Pilot (on the Calcutta-Vizagapatam-Madras-Bangalore Route during monsoons!) to Senior-Pilot and later Captain. Provides a fascinating insight into aviation activities in the immediate aftermath of WWII and the transitional period to Indian Independence etc".

Damage assessed as Cat E 28-5-46. Not repaired, Struck Off Charge 25-7-46

Note that several published sources mis-record the incident location as "Hungu" [sic]. Hangu (Pashto: هنګو, Urdu: ہنگو) is a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is the largest city and namesake of Hangu District and is the third-largest city in Kohat Division, after Karak and Kohat.

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.151
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft NA100-NZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 9 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-5-1945 to 30-6-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/139/25: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407802
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.99: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80049-nh865
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/NH865
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=NH865
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/NH865
10. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/2855
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangu,_Pakistan

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Sep-2023 10:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Sep-2023 20:34	Nepa	Updated