Date:	Wednesday 17 September 1947
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIII
Owner/operator:	FCCRS RAF
Registration:	TP454
MSN:	ALD.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Between Bournemouth & Boscombe Piers, Bournemouth, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Bournemouth Airport, Hurn (EGHH)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
TP454: Spitfire FR. XVIII. Built at Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Aldermaston with Griffon G67 engine. Taken on charge by CRD MoS VAHPA (Controller Research & Development, Ministry of Supply at Vickers Armstrongs High Post Airfield) 9-3-46. To Handling Squadron, RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire 17-12-46. To Fighter Command Communications Squadron, RAF Bovingdon, Hertfordshire 25-4-47.

Destroyed 17-9-47 when crashed into the sea between Bournemouth and Boscombe Piers. Crashed during into the English Channel during a flying exhibition/display. He was performing a final victory roll in a Spitfire Mk XVIII at the request of a child in the crowds lining the seafront and raising money for the RAF Benevolent Fund charity. The Spitfire was slow rolled at 1,000 feet agl (above ground level). When the aircraft was inverted, it was seen to lose latitude, and then dive, as though the pilot was attempting to recover from being halfway through the slow roll. Just past the vertical, and with a 70-degree dive still applied, the Spitfire hit the sea.

Canadian pilot Flt Lt. (42748) John Henry ''Butch'' Green DFC (sole person on board, aged 29) killed. As reported in a contemporary local newspaper ("Kensington Post" of September 20th 1947):

"CROWDS SAW HIM DIE
Kensington Pilot's Death Dive
Flt/Lieut. John Henry Green, 29-year-old pilot, of Redcliff Gardens, Kensington, was killed when a Spitfire plane in which he was taking part in a Battle of Britain demonstration at Bournemouth, dived into the sea. Thousands of people saw the tragedy."

According to the following press report (see link #6):

"Also on the East Cliff, can be found another memorial, a plaque in memory of Flt Lt John ‘Butch’ Green DFC, who died while when his Spitfire crashed into the sea between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers in 1947."

The subsequent Board of Inquiry into the accident concluded that the pilot had flown unauthorised low-level aerobatics, contrary to his pre-flight briefing.

Flight Lieutenant John Henry Green is buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey. He lived at Redcliff Gardens, Kensington, London and was from Vancouver. His wartime service - with DFC citation and details of his shootdown/capture - can be found at link #8. A memorial plaque to him can be found at East Overcliff Drive, Bournemouth, Dorset at 50.43.099N, 01.51907 W. The plaque appears at the end of a garden overlooking the sea, within sight of his fatal crash.

1. El Informador 19th September 1947, p 16
2. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.338
4. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.49)
5. Kensington Post of September 20th 1947
6. http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9870546.Remembering_fallen_pilots/
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p113.html
8. http://www.49squadron.co.uk/personnel_index/detail/Green_JH
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2666892/john-henry-green/
10. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
11. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wmDAF0_Flt_Lt_John_Henry_Green_DFC_Bournemouth_Dorset_UK
12. https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Dorset/BournemouthTownMemorials.html

Flight Lieutenant J H Green DFC © Keith King (WMR-49011) Flight Lieutenant J H Green DFC © Mark Newton 4 February 2016 (WMR-49011) Memorial to the pilot of Spitfire TP454, Bournemouth, Dorset 4 February 2016

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2016 18:16	TB	Added
06-May-2017 19:37	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-May-2017 19:42	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Oct-2018 16:31	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
21-Aug-2022 12:07	Paul Allonby	Updated [Narrative]
09-May-2023 18:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Narrative]]
11-May-2023 20:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Narrative]]]