Date:	Thursday 4 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII
Owner/operator:	155 Sqn RAF
Registration:	MT738
MSN:	CHA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Soewondo AFB, Medan, North Sumatra -   Indonesia
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Soewondo Air Force Base, Medan, North Sumatra
Destination airport:	Soewondo Air Force Base, Medan, North Sumatra

Narrative:
MT738: Spitfire LF. VIII. Built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Chattis Hill, with Merlin M66 engine. To 6MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 28-4-44. To 82MU RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire 2-9-44. To 9FPP damaged when landed with tailwheel retracted at RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire 2-9-44. Repaired, then packed and crated for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Martaban' and 'LS.2448' 30-10-44, arriving India 8-12-44. To 155 Squadron; in mid-September 1945, after V-J Day, the squadron flew to Singapore soon after the Japanese surrender and in February 1946, moved to Soewondo Air Force Base, Medan, North Sumatra to provide tactical support for the British Army units there until disbanded on 31-8-46

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 4-4-46 when crashed in a forced landing at Soewondo Air Force Base, Medan, North Sumatra. Pilot Flt/Lt Baxter safe. The cause of the incident was that the pilot left the fuel jettison cock open, and the aircraft sustained an air lock in the fuel system.

According to the Squadron ORB: "Flt LT Baxter and W O Evans covered the northern recce. When over base after completing the recce, Flt Lt Baxter's engine cut due to an air lock in the system and he was able to make a belly landing on the strip finishing up in some tar barrels. The aircraft was a write off but Flt Lt Baxter escaped without injury"

Not repaired; struck off charge 9-5-46 as Cat. E(FA)

Note: Several published sources mis-quote the serial number of the Spitfire involved as "MT783". Spitfire MT738 (seven-three-eight) was the Spitfire involved in the above incident. Spitfire MT783 (seven-eight-three) was issued to 1 SFTS, RIAF and crashed in India on 28-8-47 (see separate entry)

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.117
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 155 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-9-1945 to 31-8-1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/1039/17: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8389942
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.97: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MT738
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/89735-mt738
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=MT738
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._155_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soewondo_Air_Force_Base

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Mar-2019 13:46	Cobar	Added
07-Mar-2019 10:43	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
04-Jul-2023 07:30	Ron Averes	Updated [[Operator]]
04-Jul-2023 20:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Operator]]]
16-Sep-2023 14:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[[Operator]]]]