Date:	Monday 11 February 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Short Stirling Mk IV
Owner/operator:	299 Sqn RAF
Registration:	LK294
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk

Narrative:
Short Stirling Mk. IV LK294 ("5G-H") of 299 Squadron, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 11-2-46 due to undercarriage failure on approach to RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk

Due to an electrical failure, the undercarriage of Stirling LK294 would not lower when the aircraft was on final approach to RAF Shepherds Grove, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk. However, the crew made no attempt to use the backup emergency systems to lower the undercarriage manually, and the Stirling belly landed on Shepherds Grove, sliding along the runway until it came to a halt.

Although the aircraft was wrecked (deemed "damaged beyond economic repair") the crew were apparently uninjured. Two factors may also have come into play that doomed this aircraft to be scrapped as FACE (Flying Accident Cat. E). First, by February 1946, the Short Stirling was considered to be an obsolescent type, and second, 299 Squadron was disbanded at RAF Shepherds Grove on 15 February 1946, just four days later

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.30 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft LA100-LZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. The Stirling File (Bryce Gomershall, Air Britain, 1979)
4. Halley, James J. (1988). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
5. Jefford, C.G. (2001). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 (2nd ed.). Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
6. RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.95: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
7. 299 Squadron ORB for the period 1-11-1943 to 15-2-1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1654 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2504296
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._299_Squadron_RAF
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Shepherds_Grove

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Jun-2021 23:10	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Jun-2021 09:40	Mustang	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
12-Jun-2021 22:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
15-Jul-2023 00:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Narrative]]