Date:	Thursday 14 March 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	61 OTU RAF
Registration:	SL559
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Destination airport:	RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Narrative:
Spitfire LF Mk. XVI SL559: Delivered to 29 MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 3-8-45. Issued to 61 OTU 5-2-46. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 14-3-46 when crashed on landing at RAF Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. The aircraft approached "wide" of the runway at RAF Keevil, so the pilot applied full left rudder, but did not bank the aircraft. As a result, the Spitfire's airspeed fell rapidly, the aircraft stalled, the port wing dipped.

The Spitfire then inverted (rolled on its back), and crashed upside-down on the far end of the runway at RAF Keevil, from an altitude of less than 30 feet. The aircraft burst into flames on impact, and the pilot was killed

Crew of Spitfire SL559:
P/O (57534) Keith Gordon Chapman (pilot) RAF - killed in service 14-1-46,
funeral at Kettering Crematorium, Northamptonshire

Spitfire SL559 was Struck Off Charge 28-3-46 as FACE (Flying Accident Cat. E)

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p 33. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1985 page 5)
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.94
4. ORB 61 OTU RAF (Operations Record Book) (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1-6-1941 to 30-6-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 29/685/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161034
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.97: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p099.html
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/SL559
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90099-sl559
9. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2949350/chapman,-keith-gordon/
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21545-460314-Unaccounted-Airmen-14-03-1946&highlight=CHAPMAN&p=126058#post126058
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Keevil#RAF_Flying_Training_Command_use.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2014 15:12	Dr. John Smith	Added
17-Dec-2014 15:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration]
05-Apr-2015 09:22	James JUMP	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
05-Nov-2019 23:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Nov-2019 20:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Nov-2019 22:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source]
12-Nov-2019 22:33	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
20-Jun-2021 23:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
20-Jun-2021 23:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
24-Jun-2021 01:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Category]
06-Jul-2023 21:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Source, Category]]
09-Jul-2023 00:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Source, Category]]]
27-Aug-2023 10:11	Nepa	Updated [[[[Source, Category]]]]
17-Sep-2023 15:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[[[Source, Category]]]]]