Date:	Thursday 12 February 1953
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 21
Owner/operator:	3 CAACU RAF
Registration:	LA190
MSN:	SMAF4335
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Smithaleigh, mile WSW of Lea Mill Bridge, nr Ivybridge, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Exeter, Devon (EXT/EGTE)
Destination airport:	RAF Exeter, Devon (EXT/EGTE)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
LA190: Spitfire F.21 (c/no SMAF4335) Built at Vickers-Armstrong South Marston with Griffon G65 engine. Delivered to CRD (Controller, Research & Development) RAE Farnborough, Farnbrorough, Hampshire, 18-8-44. To A&AEE Boscombe Down 19-9-44 for Rolls-Royce Griffon G61 installation and handling trials. Spitfire F.21s LA189 and LA190 completed 100 flying hours in two months as a trial of their reliability and serviceability.

To 1 Squadron 22-9-44 coded "JX-Z" (Possibly the Squadron's first Spitfire F.21 - the squadron did not convert fully to the Spitfire F.21 until May 1945). To VASM (Vickers Armstrong South Marston) 26-9-46 to be refurbished for service. To 33 MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, 7-11-47 for storage upon completion. To 3 CAACU (Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit) RAF Exeter, Devon, 8-10-51.

Lost power and belly-landed into a field at Smithaleigh, one mile West South-West of Lea Mill Bridge, near Ivybridge, South Hams, Devon 12-2-53. While on a sortie from RAF Exeter, Devon, and, at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet, the engine began to run roughly and then lose power. The pilot - Flight Lieutenant A A Ince - decided to make a forced landing, which he succeeded in doing without causing any injury to himself. However, Spitfire F.21 LA190 was written off as "damaged beyond economic repair", and was Struck off Charge as Cat/5(s), then authorised to be sold as scrap on 18-3-53

The reported crash location of Smithaleigh is 3.6 miles south south-west of Ivybridge, a small town and civil parish in the South Hams, in Devon, England. It is at the southern extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England and Wales and lies along the A38 "Devon Expressway" road.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.141 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 339.
3. The Supermarine Spitfire F.21 By Phil H. Listemann
4. https://www.colettiscombataircraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The-Secret-Years-RAF-Boscombe-Down-1939-45-Tim-Mason.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p053.html
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/LA190
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
8. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/LA190
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivybridge

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Apr-2021 18:13	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Apr-2021 18:32	Gagarin	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator]