Date:	Friday 25 March 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	203 AFS RAF
Registration:	TE190
MSN:	CBAF IX.4399
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bristol Channel, off Saunton Sands, near RAF Chivenor, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon (EGDC)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
TE190: Spitfire LF.XVI MSN CBAF IX.4399. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. Retained by VAHP (Vickers-Armstrong High Post) 21-4-45 as trials aircraft. Fitted with Metal elevators with 6 inch beading each side; test flown as such from 16-5-45. To 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 19-6-45. To 61 OTU RAF Keevil, Wiltshire 16-1-46. Unit became 203 AFS at RAF Keevil 1-7-47

Written off (destroyed) 25-3-49 when dived into the Bristol Channel, off the Saunton Sands, near RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon. Pilot killed. The pilot was undertaking his first dive-bombing training sortie, but failed to pull out of the dive at the briefed altitude of 4,000 feet. At 1,500 feet, the Spitfire recovered from the dive, but them completed a half loop before diving into the sea.

The Board of Inquiry concluded that the pilot had 'blacked out' as he pulled out of the dive, and did not recover consciousness before the aircraft went out control and hit the sea

Crew of Spitfire TE190
Pilot Officer Kenneth Henry Pilgrim, RAF - killed on active service 25-3-49

1. 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.504
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p111.html
5. 203 AFS ORB for the period 1-6-47 to 31-12-50: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/1771: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4101481
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TE190
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90847-te190
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Chivenor#1946%E2%80%941949
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunton_Sands

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
31-Mar-2023 00:24	Dr. John Smith	Added