Date:	Wednesday 27 February 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Short Stirling Mk IV
Owner/operator:	23 MU RAF
Registration:	LJ926
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Maghaberry, County Antrim, Northern Ireland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Shepherds Grove, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Maghaberry, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Narrative:
Short Stirling Mk. IV LJ926 of 23 MU (Maintenance Unit), RAF Aldergrove: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 27-2-46 in a landing accident at RAF Maghaberry, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The aircraft was being delivered to RAF Maghaberry, on charge with 23 MU, for the purpose of being Struck Off Charge and scrapped as a "non-effective airframe". The pilot approached RAF Maghaberry at too high an altitude, and the aircraft was landed heavily, damaging the tailwheel.

During the subsequent taxiing off the runway after landing, the damage was compounded by the aircraft becoming bogged down in the wet grass due to the damaged tailwheel. As Stirling LJ926 was at Maghaberry for the purpose of being scrapped, it was not repaired, and scrapped on site as intended.

Stirling IV LJ926 was formally Struck off Charge as Cat. E on 29 March 1946. Its operational service career had been with 196 and 299 Squadrons. (299 Squadron had disbanded at RAF Shepherds Grove, Suffolk on 15 February 1946, twelve days before the above incident).

RAF Maghaberry is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located north of Maghaberry, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was a satellite airfield of RAF Aldergrove from 1941 to 1950 (and a Satellite Landing Ground for No. 23 Maintenance Unit RAF (January 1945 - October 1946)). The site of former RAF Maghaberry was later transformed into HM Prison Maghaberry.

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. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.84
4. The Stirling File (Bryce Gomershall, Air Britain, 1979)
5. 299 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-1-1946 to 31-1-1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/1654/44: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8399647
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=%20LJ926
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._299_Squadron_RAF#History
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Maghaberry

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Jun-2021 21:20	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Jun-2021 23:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
22-Jun-2021 21:10	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
12-Jul-2023 20:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Operator, Operator]]
23-Sep-2023 20:22	Nepa	Updated [[[Operator, Operator]]]