Date:	Wednesday 28 December 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 24
Owner/operator:	80 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VN305
MSN:	KEA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	China Sea, south west of Hong Kong -   Pacific Ocean
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kai Tak, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong
Destination airport:

Narrative:
VN305: Spitfire F.24, built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire with Griffon G61 engine. To 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 12-7-46. To 80 Squadron, RAF Wunstorf, BZG, West Germany 29-9-48. To FEAF (Fair East Air Force) 2-7-49. Then returned to 80 Squadron, RAF Kai Tak, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong coded 'W2-P'

Written off (destroyed) 28-12-49: engine failed, aircraft abandoned and ditched in the central China Sea southwest of Hong Kong. The pilot was engaged in a cine-camera gun exercise. During the sortie, he called base to state that the engine had failed, and that he was bailing out. However, despite an extensive air and sea search over a period of two days, no trace of Spitfire VN305 or its pilot was ever found.
Crew of Spitfire VN305
F/O (58990) Kenneth Russell ROSEWELL (pilot) RAF- killed on active service 28-12-49

As part of the European occupation forces, British Air Forces of Occupation, the squadron continued its patrol and reconnaissance duties from Wunstorf in Germany, until it relocated to Hong Kong in July 1949 (the Tempests having been replaced by Supermarine Spitfire F.24s in 1948). During the Chinese Civil War, No. 80 Squadron's main duty was to defend Hong Kong from perceived Communist threats. The Spitfires departed in 1951, replaced by the de Havilland Hornet, and the squadron remained in Hong Kong until being disbanded on 1-5-55

1. La Nación (Santiago) 29 December 1949, p13
2. 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.565
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 80 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-6-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2434/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8439303
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p114.html
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/79815-vn305
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/VN305
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._80_Squadron_RAF#Post-World_War_II_and_disbandment
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kai_Tak#Squadrons

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Jul-2023 20:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated
01-Aug-2023 10:58	Nepa	Updated