Date:	Monday 7 July 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	61 OTU RAF
Registration:	SL544
MSN:	CBAF.4658
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
SL544: Spitfire LF XVI. Built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Desford with Merlin M266 engine. To 29MU RAF High Ercoll, Shropshire 25-8-45. To 61OTU TAG Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire 7-3-46

Damaged in a Cat C flying accident (FAAC) 7-7-47 at RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire: swung off the runway on take-off. Not repaired, re-cat E 20-10-47 and struck off charge 11-11-47

NOTE: 61 OTU became 203 Advanced Flying School and moved to RAF Chivenor, Devon in July 1947 and this marked the end of RAF Keevil as a fully staffed and equipped operational airfield. However, as SL544 is still listed as being with 61 OTU (and not 203 AFS) it is presumed that the accident took place at Keevil and not Chivenor. It is possible that SL544 was being transferred to Chivenor when the accident happened

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.321
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Haley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 61 OTU RAF ORB for the period 16-1-1947 to 30-6-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/685/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161034
5. http://www.spitfires.ukf.net/p099.htm
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90084-sl544
7. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=SL544
8. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/SL544
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Keevil#Postwar_military_use

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Apr-2013 11:43	Dr. John Smith	Added
21-Jul-2013 14:58	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
31-Aug-2023 01:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Operator]]