Date:	Thursday 25 October 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	FCC & RS RAF
Registration:	TE470
MSN:	CBAF.IX.4605
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hatts Farm, Semley, Wiltshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
TE470: Spitfire LF.XVI. Delivered to the RAF at 29 MU 20-6-45. First issued for service with 19 Squadron, RAF Acklington as 'QV-B' 28-5-46. Moved with the squadron to RAF Wittering in October 1946. Then issued to 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron, RAF Dyce, Aberdeen from 17-2-50 as "8W-B". To FCCRS (Fighter Command Control & Reporting School), 4-7-51

Written off (destroyed) when dived into ground at Hatts Farm, Semley, Wiltshire, 22 miles South West of Tisbury, 25-10-51. The pilot reported engine trouble and the aircraft was then seen diving steeply at about 1,000 feet with the pilot falling alongside with a partly opened parachute. Unfortunately, the parachute did not develop fully and the pilot was killed when he struck the ground.

According to contemporary newspaper reports ("The Times", London, 26 and 27 October 1951):

"An RAF Spitfire on local flying from Middle Wallop airfield crashed in a copse at Hatts Farm, Semley, Wiltshire, after appearing to catch fire in the air. The pilot baled out but his parachute failed to open". On 27 October, The Times named "Sgt Rajmund Sosnowski, Polish Air Force", as the pilot.

Crew of Spitifre TE470
Flight Sergeant (706193) Rajmund Sosnowski, Polish Air Force, aged 31 - killed on active service 25/10/1951, buried at Andover Cemetery, Andover, Hampshire

The reported crash site of Semley is a village in Sedgehill and Semley civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the Wiltshire/Dorset border, about 3 miles north-east of Shaftesbury in neighbouring Dorset. Officially, the crash location was reported as "22 miles South West of Tisbury, Wiltshire".

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.118 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.191
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p112.html
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?12957-Fatal-crash-25-October-1951
6. https://listakrzystka.pl/en/sosnowski-rajmund/
7. https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/drukuj_airmen.php?id=3215
8. https://www.polishairforce.pl/_cmandover.html (Polish text)
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semley

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Feb-2021 23:59	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Feb-2021 09:16	Digger	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Operator]
14-Feb-2021 00:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]