Date:	Tuesday 8 October 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire HF Mk IX
Owner/operator:	43 (China-British) Sqn RAF
Registration:	PL387
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	3 miles South of Mortegliano, Friuli Venezia Giulia, SW of Udine -   Italy
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
PL387: Spitfire HF. IX, built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M70 engine. To 39MU RAF Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire 20-6-44. To 82MU 20-7-44 RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire for packing and crating for overseas shipment. To 1 PATP, and shipped on the SS 'New Texas' 31-7-44, arriving Casablanca, Morocco 22-8-44. To 601 (County of London) Squadron, Bellaria, Italy from 4-12-44. To 93 Squadron in Italy 03-5-45. After World War II (8-5-45), 93 Squadron was disbanded on 5-9-45. To 43 Squadron in Italy 3-9-45.

Written off (destroyed) 8-10-46: aircraft disintegrated after dive 3 miles South of Mortegliano, Friuli Venezia Giulia, South West of Udine, Italy. The pilot attempted a late pull out of a dive, but, by harsh use of the controls, he induced a high-speed stall, from which the aircraft did not recover before the aircraft struck the ground. Pilot killed

Crew of Spitfire PL387:
Flt/Sgt (1607731) Peter David Knocker, RAFVR (pilot, aged 22) - killed on active service 8-10-46, buried at Udine War Cemetery

Aircraft formally Struck Off Charge 31-10-46 as Cat. E(FA)

Mortegliano (Friulian: Mortean) is a commune (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 60 km northwest of Trieste and about 14 km southwest of Udine.

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.230
3. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
4. 43 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-5-45 to 31-5-47: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/446: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2503081
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.103: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p087.html
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2817781/peter-david-knocker/
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21622974/peter-david-knocker
9. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/PL387
10. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PL387
11. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80633-pl387
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._601_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._93_Squadron_RAF
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._43_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortegliano

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Sep-2013 05:22	JINX	Added
27-Mar-2015 18:40	Jixon	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
06-Jun-2015 15:54	Angel dick one	Updated [Operator]
10-Jan-2016 19:41	Anon.	Updated [Location]
30-May-2023 17:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location]]
13-Sep-2023 12:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Location]]]